The Price We Pay
by WhizGidget
Summary: *In Progress* CH15 up Lee and Amanda are trying to save thier jobs, blend thier homes and stay out of trouble. Too bad - trouble always knows how to find them.
1. Sleeplessness

The Price We Pay - Chapter 1 Title: The Price We Pay 

Disclosure: Warner Brothers Television Distribution and Shoot The Moon Productions owns these characters, as well as to the writers, and actors who created and portrayed them. Generous references to the past and the events of the 4th season… I don't make any money off of this – my only reward is my personal satisfaction at having written a decent story (and the story is all mine). Oh, and any new characters that you meet along the way - those are creations from my own twisted imagination, so hands off, unless you ask for permission to play with them. 

Timing and assumptions: June-August 1987 - just after 'Consequences of Our Actions' ended. Recap: Amanda used deadly force for the first time, the marriage was revealed, and our heroes are on their way to losing their jobs. 

Author: WhizGidget   
Written: February 2001- still in progress, but I hope to finish sometime in July.   
Rating: PG-ish… probably more accurate as a G, but this allows for one's mind to wander…   
Archive: at fanfiction.net, and on the smkfanfic list. I'd be honored to be elsewhere, just email me and let me know where (astolzman@yahoo.com) 

Comments/praise? Any comments (bad or good) are accepted – after all, how else do I become a better writer? And to find new direction from your comments. Encouragement to continue? Absolutely. I'd love that too. Flames? Sure, I'd love to build a fire-pit in my backyard, and flames would be useful in the pit… 

Thanks to everyone who supported, enjoyed and commented on "Consequences of Our Actions". I really appreciated it. And some of those comments inspired bits and pieces of this story. For that, I thank you, and I hope you enjoy it. 

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'Where is he? …I hate carrying a gun…I can hear voices…' 

As she moved, she thought her clothes rustled as loudly as if she were stepping on broken glass. 

'I know he's in trouble…I can hear him, he sounds so angry…' 

She could swear that anyone could hear the sound of her breathing a mile away. 

'No, that's not Lee…There he is… Oh my gosh! He's got a gun to his head. He's been hurt. What do I do?' 

Her heart was pounding in her head, making it hard to think. 

'Car.' It was outside, parked a ways away. 

'Phone.' Also outside, locked in the car. 

'Billy.' She turned, hoping that her footsteps weren't as loud as she thought they were. 

'Get backup.' Would there be enough time? She had a weapon, but hated using it. 

The fragmented thoughts raced through her head, but as she turned, she brushed against a pile of boxes, and then everything seemed to happen all at once, and instinct took over. 

She registered that there was a struggle. 

A gunshot, then another. 

There was a man dead before her. 

Everything went black. 

And then there was an incredibly dazzling, bright light. And she immediately sat up. 

And thus, the neighbor's badly aimed outdoor motion detector light shone into Amanda's bedroom and woke her up from her nightmare. She drew her knees up, wrapping her arms around them. She placed her head down on her knees and lightly shook her head as if to physically rid her mind of the images that were there just a minute or two ago. 

The rational intelligence agent, Amanda King, knew that this wasn't a nightmare. Her mind was just reliving what had happened just a couple of days earlier. Dr. Pfaff had cautioned that this would be normal for any agent who had used deadly force for the first time. 

The emotional human, Amanda Stetson, however, wished fervently that this whole experience really were a nightmare, because she never wanted to experience anything like it ever again. Never hold a gun again. Never have to deal with powder residue. Never see someone dead from her actions. And it was a likely possibility that she never would have to, thanks to Dr. Smyth. She wasn't sure if she was disappointed or relieved. 

Amanda took a deep breath, shook her head softly just one more time and as the neighbor's light went off, she realized that she was alone in the room. The room was also now perfectly dark. Lee still had a habit of leaving the bathroom light on with the door open just a crack, even in the familiar territory of their bedroom. He had snuck into the bedroom multiple times – enough to be familiar with it – but in times like this, she almost welcomed the light, and was surprised to see it off. Amanda switched on the light next to the bed, and grabbed her robe. 

She made her way downstairs, barefoot, looking for signs of life. She found Lee in the family room, in the dark, staring out the French doors towards the gazebo. He spoke softly without turning around. "It's always looked so pretty in the moonlight. Too bad the only light we got tonight was that damn motion detector." 

"Did it wake you, too? I must not have noticed the first time." 

"No, Amanda, it didn't go off at all. I just couldn't sleep and came down here. I didn't want to wake anyone else up, so I sat down here for a while hoping I'd get tired and fall asleep. I was going to sit out in the gazebo for a few minutes, but that light went on, and that was the end of that idea." Lee finally turned around and noticed the look on his wife's face – even in the darkness he could tell that she looked like a deer trapped in headlights. "Amanda, are you ok?" 

Amanda nodded weakly. "I'm tired, and I just had a nightmare, and I didn't have anyone to talk to, you weren't there, and I didn't know where you were for a minute, and…" her voice drifted off and she sighed. 

Lee watched as the weight of the world stayed on his wife's shoulders with that sigh. "I'm right here, Amanda. Was it… the other night?" 

She nodded. "Lee, it was like I was there, all over again. Dr. Pfaff said that this would happen, but I wasn't prepared for it to be as focused as it was. Every detail was magnified in a different way. Some details were fuzzy in the corners of my mind, and others were completely clear – as if I was right there again. I can still see that man with his white shirt – " She let that sentence trail off. "Lee? Does it ever get any easier?" 

"I don't know what to tell you Amanda. Sometimes it does, but I think it depends on the agent. For me, after Oz, I stopped caring about who was killed as a result of my firing a weapon. I didn't let it bother me. I couldn't let it bother me. I was taken off the duty roster for 6 weeks after Dor – well, after the first two weeks, I still wasn't ready to come back. After 4, I just wanted revenge. At 6, I had become detached to the situation without really working it out the right way." He had walked over to where Amanda was standing and was holding her hands in his. "It's different for everyone, Amanda. I've worked with guys in the field who could shoot someone for the first time, and just keep going. They sail through the debriefing and follow-up sessions with Pfaff, and just keep going. I think I used to know how they could keep going like that, but the more I look back on my excuses, the more I realize that they were thinly veiled lies to myself and Pfaff, to stay on the job. I don't understand how they can keep going. It's inhuman." 

Lee dropped his wife's hands, and pulled her into a hug. "Amanda, it's going to be fine. If you were able to forget it within a couple of days, like some of those other guys, I would really worry about you. Come on, let's go back upstairs, and get some sleep. If we keep this up, we'll wake everybody up, and the boys only got back this morning. Besides, you always say that things are always better in the morning." He smiled at her nodding head, took her hand, and led her up the stairs. 

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Despite having slept in the white house on Maplewood for the last few nights, Lee still hadn't moved all of his boxed belongings from his Georgetown apartment. Amanda kept insisting that he move more of his personal items in, but Lee was resistant to moving in all at once. It wasn't that he didn't want to move in; he wanted to be sure that the boys were ok with everything that was going on. Today was the day, Amanda was sure; she would win the debate, despite her husband's stubborn conviction that he shouldn't overwhelm the kids. After all, his presence was around the house all day, anyway – he slept there every night, and woke up there every morning. 

"Lee?" 

"Hmmm?" He looked up from his coffee and the toast that Amanda had insisted he eat for breakfast. He turned the toast over once, checking it out before taking a bite. 'What I wouldn't give for a doughnut…' 

"Did you have any plans for today?" 

"No," Lee replied absently, looking back at the sports page. The coffee didn't fire up his synapses quickly enough. 

"Good. We can go pick up more of your things from the apartment." Amanda got up and walked back into the kitchen, not noticing her husband's head dropping down as he realized the trap he'd walked into. 

"Amanda… shouldn't we wait a little while longer? We've covered this over and over again – it's going to be a shock to the boys. After all, its not every day that you find out your mom handles government secrets, and her boyfriend-" 

"-And her boyfriend is really her partner, and that the man they look at as a good friend is their step-father… Lee, I know you covered the thought of losing all of us with Sarah. Did you bother to cover your fear of being part of a family?" Amanda picked up Lee's sentence right along with him, and turned it into a point in her favor. "Lee, the boys are fine. They've been under the same roof with you for the last week. Granted, there have been a few uncomfortable moments, but it hasn't been anything we can't get past." 

Lee smiled. Yes, there had been that one incident where Philip had wanted to 'die of embarrassment' from walking in with some friends and seeing Amanda and Lee cuddled up and kissing on the couch. There were adjustments going to have to be made on all sides. He had to admit that Amanda had a point – he could only put off the inevitable for so long. 'Time to give in, Stetson, your wife's right.' He smiled at the words in his head and gave them his voice. 

"You're right Amanda." 

"I know I'm ri- what did you say?" Amanda turned around and was looking at her husband as if he'd just materialized right in front of her, out of nowhere with roses and a tuxedo. 

"You're right. Completely and absolutely. It's time to give up the apartment, move in here, and stop avoiding the inevitable." Lee smiled as he watched Amanda's reaction turn from one of amazement to sheer delight. 

The phone rang, and her smile faded. "Don't answer that, Stetson." Her tone meant business. 

"What if it's Billy with news about our jobs?" The phone sounded out a second ring. 

"What if it's Billy with a reinstatement and something to take you out of the country for a few weeks?" The phone rang for a third time. 

"Well, we can-" Lee was interrupted by the sound of his oldest son's feet on the stairs. 

"Isn't anyone going to answer the phone around here?" Philip moved between the two adults and answered the phone. "Hello? Oh, hi…" Philip's voice faded out of range as he picked up the phone and walked around the corner so as not to be overheard. 

Amanda looked over at her oldest son, his presence apparent only by the phone cord stretched around the corner and laughed. 

"What's so funny?" 

"Oh, now I know what it looked like all those times you called and I had to move around the corner so no one heard what we were talking about." 

"Gonna miss that now that I'm here?" Lee got up and moved to wrap his arms around his wife's waist and pull her into a hug. 

"Not for a second." She smiled as he leaned down to kiss her.   
  



	2. Becca "Boo"...

TPWP ch2 Title: The Price We Pay 

Disclosure: Warner Brothers Television Distribution and Shoot The Moon Productions owns these characters, as well as to the writers, and actors who created and portrayed them. Generous references to the past and the events of the 4th season… I don't make any money off of this – my only reward is my personal satisfaction at having written a decent story (and the story is all mine). Oh, and any new characters that you meet along the way - those are creations from my own twisted imagination, so hands off, unless you ask for permission to play with them. 

See Chapter 1 for more information on timing and all that other good stuff... 

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Rebecca Dobson, codename Boo, walked through the corridors of The Agency noting that in her absence almost nothing had changed. The carpets were the same, the offices were the same, and somehow, she was almost positive that some of the same guards were posted in front of the same doors as they had when she had last been in the non-descript IFF building. '5 years. It's been a long time,' she thought to herself with a small smile playing about the corners of her mouth, 'but nothing's changed. That's the government for you.' She chucked softly, which gained her escort's attention. 

"Share the laughter, Becca, I could use some this morning." Francine Desmond was not a happy camper this morning. The duty rosters all had to be re-arranged due to the recent activities of Dr. Smyth, and she was being hit from all angles for information on what had really happened to Scarecrow and Mrs. King. 

"Oh, Francine, nothing's changed. That's just like the government for you. The guards are still the same types of men in the same places, and the offices haven't been redecorated since this place was built. I bet that Billy Melrose still sucks down TUMS and doughnuts in equal quantities and Dr. Smyth still speaks in riddles." She turned to look at Francine while matching her quick stride down the hallways that would lead to the bullpen. 

"You're instincts were always good. Yes, Smyth is still a jerk, and we're still trying to figure out what Billy is really addicted to. Fielder's still a coward when it comes to bombs, and the Q-Bureau is still overflowing with work to be done." 

"And I bet Crawford's up to his neck, and doing nothing about it, right?" 

"Becca, you *have* been out of the loop too long. They walked Crawford over two years ago. He was in with the Russians. There's so much to catch up on – I keep forgetting you haven't been in town for 5 years. And contact zero for most of that time. I bet your debriefing was fun." Francine shuddered at the thought of catching up with 4 years worth of materials. 

"Don't even bring up that debriefing. And no, I hadn't heard. Who's the poor sucker who ended up with the Q?" 

"Suckers. Our very own Scarecrow, and his part-." 

"Lee Stetson? Managing the Q? Upstairs? You have got to be kidding." Becca had stopped just outside the doors to the bullpen. She looked almost shocked to hear this news. 

"Becca, a lot has changed around here. Come on, we've re-arranged the bullpen a couple of times since you've been gone." 

"Still looks the same. Now don't change the subject. Lee's handling the Q-Bureau? Well, his job may have changed, but I bet he's still the same ol' Lee Stetson. Black books full of women, obsessed with his car, and his clothes. And always has a day of the week free for me." She smiled playfully at Francine, who was shaking her head at Becca's comments. 

"Same old Becca. Not the same old Lee, though. He's got a partner, they run the Q-Bureau-" 

"Partner? Did you say partner? Lee-" 

It was Francine's turn to interrupt as they walked into the bullpen and headed for Francine's desk. "Yes, I said partner. I did try to warn of about that once before, but you seemed a little more occupied with interrupting me. Things have changed, Becca. More than you know." Francine dropped into a serious tone of voice with the last statement, but the fellow agent missed it. 

"Ok. What about Lee's partner? Cute, single?" Becca had had a reputation for trying out all the new agents, and usually was the origin of most of the rumors about the male agents. 

"Lives in Arlington, two kids, newly married, and as for looks, I suppose she's all right. She makes the most divine Christmas cookie. I've got her recipe, but I just can't get it to come out right." 

"She? A mom? Things *have* changed around here. How'd Lee end up with her? Billy force her down his throat?" Becca got a mischievous grin on her face as she noticed the opportunity to needle her longtime friend. "Francine, you'll never get those cookies right. I may have been in another hemisphere, but I certainly heard about you and those cooking lessons of yours a few years ago." 

"Speaking of those cooking lessons, do you remember that Lee passed a package on to a civilian in that case?" 

"Yeah, some housewife from Arlington… you don't mean…? *She* is Lee's partner. A civilian?" 

"Well, she's picked up some training along the way, and yes, there were a few times that Billy insisted that they work together. She became a freshman candidate last year, and together they're a fantastic team. The Q Bureau has never run any better." 

"Well, when can I meet her?" Becca immediately thought that this would be the best way to get back to seeing Lee Stetson, but the biggest bomb was about to drop on her and she didn't even know it. 

"I don't know. She's been fired. I have to adjust all these duty rosters because of her and Scarecrow's absence, and help Billy find a way to get her back in." Francine lowered her voice at this last statement. 

"Fired? What she'd do? And Lee's gone?" 

"Yup." Francine smiled at her friend. "She's fired, and he's only on suspension because he's the senior agent, but I think Smyth's going to officially cut him loose sometime this week." 

"Why? What did they do? Mis-use their clearances? Bully a suspect?" 

"Nope. Worse." 

"What could be worse than that?" Becca couldn't fathom anything worse that would only have them suspended and not in holding cells awaiting trial for treason. 

"They got married." 

"So, what's the capital crime in that?" 

"No crime, other than they married each other." Francine looked up just in time to see Becca's mouth drop open and Billy's door open. "Close your mouth, Becca. It's very unattractive and rude." With that, Francine turned towards her terminal. "And Billy's standing right behind you and he doesn't look happy." 

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Part of the reason that Billy Melrose didn't look happy was the same reason that in a white house on Maplewood Drive in Arlington, Virginia, the phone was running for what had to be the 24th time. Philip answered the phone, and immediately called out "Mom! It's for you again!" He put the phone down on the counter and walked back into the living room. He and his brother had been back home for a few days, but it wasn't until today that everyone seemed to be calling to congratulate his mom and Lee about their marriage. Philip guessed that they didn't bother telling anyone else for a while to have some privacy and that's why the phone was ringing so constantly now. He wondered briefly if all the phone calls might have had something to do with why Lee rushed out of here earlier. 

Amanda went to pick up the phone, and immediately regretted it. This time, it was one of the girls from the steno pool who, though congratulating her on her "catch" of the infamous Lee Stetson, also questioned what she would do if he went back to his wandering ways. Amanda let the woman know that she wasn't really worried about that, and quickly ended the conversation. As she put down the receiver, she sighed and leaned against the counter. There had to be something good about that call, but Amanda was having a hard time putting her finger on what it could be. 

After a minute, she realized that this was one of the few calls that didn't drop the news that Lee's suspension was over. Unbeknownst to Amanda, Francine's earlier prediction that Lee would be cut loose by Smyth was correct – it was just sooner than anyone had expected. He had terminated the agent via a forced resignation. Billy had broken the news in a phone call, which had come shortly after Philip had grabbed that first phone call of the morning, and that had caused Lee to run out of the place. If it wasn't one thing, Amanda thought, it was another. Francine was still in shock over the news of their marriage, and just when it seemed like she was coming to grips with it, Smyth had to go and make his initial decision permanent. After hearing the news, and hanging up on Billy, Lee had gotten slightly agitated – which was putting it mildly - and had started storming around the house stating that Smyth was treating them as if they had committed treason. It had taken quite a few minutes to convince Lee to quiet down – the boys didn't know what they really did for a living, and they might forgive a statement as the heat of anger, but if Lee kept it up, he might let something critical slip. 

Shortly after Amanda had managed to get him to calm down, Lee called Billy back and had agreed to meet him. They were both hoping that Billy had some information on how to get their jobs back. Their record was the best in The Agency, even if most of it was with Amanda having civilian status; their backgrounds checks came up consistently clean (with the minor exception of their hidden marriage, notwithstanding); there had been suspensions of both agents, but mostly due to misunderstandings or a frame-up, and they had both been able to clear their names. Lee had a record that was exemplary, despite the two D-1 manhunts that were against his name. They had both received commendations from the President of the United States, medals from royalty around the world, from heads of other governments. Even a pair of Presidential pardons after the Stemwinder incident almost a year earlier. They had also been personally involved for well over a year, and no one had questioned their work since then – Amanda had become a full-time agent in training without any questioning their competence as a team. Their fellow agents had to admit that they were the best there was. 

Amanda broke out of her reverie by the sound of phone ringing yet again. She looked at the phone warily, not wanting to deal with another woman trying to convince her that Lee would leave her when he got bored with domestic life. If… *when* they were re-instated, Amanda corrected herself, they would have to face that kind of innuendo at The Agency. Might as well pick up the phone. Amanda answered on the third ring. 

"Hiya, beautiful." It was Lee. "Everything going ok at home?" He smiled to himself. Home. Such a wonderful word that he had never really known about. Now he had a wonderful teacher. Teachers. Dotty and the boys would help him learn. 

"Everything's fine. The phone's been ringing off the hook since you left. Everyone's calling, from field agents, training, even the steno pool." Amanda couldn't keep the sarcasm out of her voice. 

Lee laughed through the phone. "Yeah, I'm sure they've been calling. I'm over at the apartment and the answering machine's run out of tape. Some of the calls are from co-workers, but there are quite a few from the steno pool too, offering to help me get over the boredom when I can't stand taking out the garbage anymore. I can't believe I actually used to date some of those women. Is Dotty back yet?" 

"No. Philip said she called earlier to ask if everything's ok. He said that everything was fine, didn't give her any details, and told me that she'd be back by dinnertime." 

"Good." 

Amanda quickly looked around her to be sure that there weren't any extra ears. Philip and Jaime were both at friends' houses. "Lee, did you make any headway with Billy?" 

"No, not really. He doesn't have any other idea other than to continue to appeal Smyth's decision further up in the ranks. I suspect that Billy will be taking his own walks up Pennsylvania Avenue sometime in the next couple of weeks about this one." 

"Well, then, that leaves a pretty open schedule for awhile. What's next on the agenda?" 

"I'm closing up the place, and I'll be home soon. Then we can explain everything and be done with all the secrets." He still sounded mad. 

"All?" 

"Ok, maybe just the ones about our jobs." 

"I can think of a couple others, Stetson." 

"Like what?" Amanda heard that cocky, arrogant, teasing tone in his voice – the one that he always had before she threw him a curve ball. 

"Like those two cans of whipped cream that disappeared after Easter, or the brand new bottle of maraschino cherries and the chocolate syrup last month, or-" 

"Ok. You made your point. We won't be done with all the secrets. Just the ones that have been keeping us apart." 

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An hour later, the front door slammed. "Lee! You're as bad as the – Mother!" 

"That man. I just can't stand it. He's so infuriating!" 

"Who, Lee?" 

"Amanda, don't ever get involved with someone who has a military past. Any time start talking about past relationships, and venture into theirs all you get is a 'need to know' answer. And he'll tell you that you don't 'need to know.' Oh, Amanda, please tell me that Lee never worked for the government." 

"Mother, you know as well as I do that we both work for the government, and that we have access to some private information. We both know about 'need to know'." She deftly avoided the question, and wondered what Kurt had done to get her mother so upset. 

"Oh, I suppose you're right, darling. I didn't mean to slam the door. Did you and Lee get everything straightened out? Speaking of, where is he?" 

"Yes, Mother. Everything's fine. We're fine. It was all a misunderstanding." Amanda had followed Dotty into the kitchen where she was pouring herself a glass of milk. "And he went over to his apartment to pick up a few more things. He's almost all moved in." 

"Oh, good. You know, he told me it was just a misunderstanding. He just-" Dotty was immediately cut off by her daughter's questioning. 

"When did he tell you that it was a misunderstanding?" 

"When he walked me out to the car the other night. Oh, I'm sure you had other things on your mind that night than to keep track of where Lee was every second after Philip accused him of cheating on you." Dotty started to reach for the cabinet where the Galliano was, and then thought better of it. "So, who was the other woman?" 

"Mother, I am not going to answer that. Lee said he wanted to be the one to tell you, and I promised that I wouldn't go over it without him in case you had questions that I couldn't possibly hope to answer and we didn't want your imagination to start to run wild before he got here, so could we just not talk about it until he gets here?" 

"I know when he gets here he's just going to try and distract me and we're never going to talk about it." Dotty took a long sip of her milk. 

"Some things are 'need to know', Dotty, and this is something you need to know." Lee was leaning into the doorway of the kitchen, and chuckled as his mother-in-law almost choked on her milk. 

"Lee Stetson, how many times do I have to tell you to not do that? Why do you do that?" Amanda asked this question multiple times in the past, but usually received a change of subject. This time she was asking with a witness, but she didn't expect anything different. 

"Because I like to keep you on your toes." His green eyes twinkled as if they were laughing as he finally gave her an answer to her question. "Dotty, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to startle you." 

"Forgiven. Now will you tell me what this is all about? What was the little misunderstanding that you alluded to the other night? *Who* is the other woman that you've been seeing?" Dotty was like a bulldog with a bone – she wasn't going to let go of this one. Lee and Amanda knew this. 

"The other woman I've been seeing in my apartment is… a therapist." 

"Therapy? Lee, darling, whatever for?" Dotty looked to her daughter for confirmation, but found that she was walking out of the room. Amanda thought that Lee would be better off explaining this to her mother by himself, and she didn't want to intrude on this moment that would be important in establishing their relationship. 

"Dotty, where do I start? With my parents who were murdered when I was 5? Then I lost my grandmother a couple of years later. I had an uncle who didn't allow me to cry about any of it. I lost a couple of good friends who… died too young. Then Amanda got shot a few months back in California. I've lost too many people close to me in my life. I've spent a lot of my life just getting involved with superficial people for superficial reasons – if it wasn't important, if *they* weren't important, then I wouldn't have to worry about losing them." With that, Lee reached for the nearest coffee cup and poured a fresh cup for himself. 

"Superficial people? I don't understand; you're not superficial in the least. If you were, I would think that Amanda would have had more sense to not get involved with you." 

"You'd think so." 

"Pardon me?" 

"Dotty, when Amanda first met me, I was the most self-absorbed, selfish, superficial, playboy type of guy you could ever hope to never meet in a bar. I was always with the most beautiful women, at the most prominent society parties. I had the best-tailored suits, well-furnished apartments. Forgive me, but initially I thought your daughter was one of the most accident-prone, incompetent people I had ever met. I got to know her – how nice she is, how kind, dedicated, how much she loves you and the boys. She became my best friend – and I didn't have any close friends to speak of. Then I fell in love with her, and I was scared to death that something was going to happen and take her away from me, like everyone else who had been taken away from me, but I couldn't be without her. You can't have any idea what it was like for me to know that she loved me – that she would marry me." Lee paused to take a long sip of coffee and Dotty waited for him to continue. "Then California happened, and after a few weeks, I couldn't handle it anymore. I had to talk to someone who was removed from the situation. Yes, she was an old girlfriend," at this Dotty stiffened slightly, "but she's a very pregnant, very married old girlfriend, who's an incredible therapist. To tell you the truth, though, Amanda provided much better therapy than I could ever imagine: just by being part of my life." 

For a moment, Dotty looked her son-in-law over as he drank his coffee. She noticed that he deliberately kept his eyes focused on the dark liquid in his cup so as to not make eye contact with her. "Lee… thank you for marrying my daughter. You are a wonderful man." Dotty smiled at Lee, with tears just at the edges of her eyes, as he looked slightly surprised at her statement. She reached over to hug her son-in-law. 

"Yes, Mother, he is." Amanda had appeared from around the corner where she had been listening to lean against the wall and smile at her mother and her husband. And all seemed right with the world.   
  



	3. Some elemental truths

TPWP ch3 Title: The Price We Pay 

Disclosure: Warner Brothers Television Distribution and Shoot The Moon Productions owns these characters, as well as to the writers, and actors who created and portrayed them. Generous references to the past and the events of the 4th season… I don't make any money off of this – my only reward is my personal satisfaction at having written a decent story (and the story is all mine). Oh, and any new characters that you meet along the way - those are creations from my own twisted imagination, so hands off, unless you ask for permission to play with them. 

See Chapter 1 for more information on timing and all that other good stuff... 

~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK 

Saturday afternoon found Jaime and Lee unpacking books in the den. Amanda had cleared out a few shelves for Lee's collection of books that he had collected in his travels and throughout his life. They worked quietly side-by-side unpacking the boxes in order – Jaime pulling books out and handing them to Lee who kept busy placing them on shelves. 

Lee really enjoyed the time that he was spending with Jaime these days. They were finally starting to find common ground to talk about how things were changing all around them. Joe had called earlier in the morning to ask Amanda to lunch to discuss something with her, and she wanted to assure him that the boys were doing fine adjusting to Lee's presence. Lee was trying to adjust to having a real family for the first time in his life; Jaime was trying to adjust to having a male parent who was always around, and to a brother who seemed to resent that fact. Philip was currently over at a friend's house (he seemed to live at his different friend's houses lately) and they probably wouldn't see him until after dinner. It seemed, since the big confrontation between the two, that Philip was doing everything he could to avoid being around Lee. 

Jaime finally broke the comfortable silence that had come between them as they worked. "Lee, why my mom?" 

Not thinking, he replied, "Because I love her. Why else?" He looked up at his youngest stepson, to find that that couldn't have been the right answer. Jaime was looking at him quizzically with his head tilted to the side. "Um, that wasn't the question you were asking, was it?" 

"No. I was asking about your jobs. You've already admitted that you deal with some government secrets and that there are people who want those secrets. It sounds like some pretty serious stuff." Jaime paused for a moment, but before Lee could speak he continued his thought. "How did my mom get a job working with government secrets? I thought it was just a simple administrative job at a film company when she started." 

Lee remembered that first moment and spoke before he realized what he was saying, the words coming out of nowhere at all: "It's the Shriner's fault." 

"Excuse me?" 

Jaime's voice brought Lee out of his reverie. He chuckled, and continued. "Let me tell you a story about a train station and an unexpected Shriner's convention. Some people would think that your mom was in the wrong place at the wrong time. She and I don't think that – she was in the right place at the right time. I needed some help getting a package to someone on the train, and I wasn't going to be able to do it. I asked her to get on the train, and give it to the guy in the red hat. Unfortunately for her, and lucky for me, there was a Shriner's convention on the train, and she didn't know who to give it to. So she brought it home. One thing led to another, and she ended up helping me out more than I cared to admit or recognize at the time." 

Jaime pondered this for a moment. "So, you didn't want Mom's help?" 

"Well, I did, but I don't think I knew it at the time. Jaime, 5 years ago, I was a carefree guy who dated a different woman every week. Footloose and fancy free – on the social register all the time, at all the great parties. And here's my boss telling me that I should work with this woman – a divorced mom of two kids who's into the PTA and coaching little league. You have no idea what was going through my mind at the time, and I'm not about to insult your mom to your face by covering that ground again." Lee stopped for a minute, thinking back quickly over a few choice instances where he could have been kinder to this woman who turned his life inside-out, upside-down, and now he couldn't live without her. 

"I did, and said, some pretty hurtful things, but through it all your mom stuck by me. And she turned out to be really good at her job – she didn't know anything about-" at this he caught himself before he said anything questionable, "-the business, but learned everything she could as fast as she could. I was too self-absorbed to realize how much she learned and how quickly. I didn't give her the credit she deserved. Every once in a while now, she surprises me with something new she knows or has learned. And I never knew that someone could read your mind as well as your mother reads mine." He had been looking down and working on the shelves through most of his speech, carefully wording it as he went along, but this moment he looked up at Jaime to find that the boy was watching him with an amused look on his face. 

"Mom's always had a few tricks up her sleeve." He looked up at Lee with a slight smile. "She knows more than she lets on, and she always will." 

"Yeah, I guess she will. Keeps me on my toes. Jaime, can I give you a piece of advice? Don't ever underestimate anyone you meet. You never know what great tricks they might have up their sleeves." 

"Yeah, you're right. Hey Lee, can I ask you something else?" 

Lee was amazed that Jaime could jump from one topic to another so quickly. Or so he thought. "Sure, what do you want to know?" 

"What was in the package?" 

"What package?" 

"Duh. You're as bad as Philip sometimes. What was in the package that you asked Mom to give to the guy on the train? What else could we have been talking about?" Jaime looked over at Lee with an exasperated look on his face that reminded the older man how much this boy was like his mother. 

"Oh. It was silly. It was just a music box." Lee looked up to see Jaime thinking about something very hard. 

"Was it broken? A little square china music box?" 

"Yeah, I think so… wait a second, how did you- oh, that's right," by this point, Lee had trailed off a bit in volume. Jaime was still pulling books out of boxes and lining them up in piles. Lee continued on, musing almost to himself, not realizing that he was speaking out loud. "You guys opened the package, and that's how we knew about Mrs. Welch." 

"Mrs. Who?" 

Lee was startled to be caught reminiscing about the case that brought he and Amanda together. "Oh, nothing. Let's get this done, before your mom gets home and thinks we just goofed around all afternoon, ok?" With that, Lee grabbed the nearest pile of books and set to straightening them on the shelf. Jaime just shrugged his shoulders and moved to fold up the empty cartons. 

~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK 

Across the city, Amanda arrived 10 minutes late to the restaurant, to find Joe waiting patiently at their table. 

"Amanda, I hope you don't mind that I already ordered. Just salads. We can get something else if you're hungry?" 

"No, sweetheart. The salad is just fine. How's Carrie?" 

"Carrie's fine." The waiter arrived at just that moment with their salads; Amanda dug right into hers, while Joe just picked around things. 

"Joe, is something wrong?" Amanda had put down her fork, and folder her hands at the edge of the table. Figuring that it might be about Carrie judging from his short response, she wasn't sure how to handle the situation. It's one thing to talk with your ex-spouse over lunch, while it's an entirely different matter to discuss your respective new spouses. 

"I guess I'll come right to the point, Amanda. What are you going to do now?" 

"Joe, I don't follow you." 

"What are you going to do about your job?" While Joe knew that Amanda was involved with The Agency, he wasn't quite fully aware to what extent. Nor did he know that they had lost their jobs. 

"Joe, don't worry about The Agency. It doesn't matter anymore." 

"What are you thinking? Of course it matters! You two work in dangerous jobs and come home to our sons. What if something happens at home? What if someone follows you home one night? What if-" 

"Joe, don't you think that I've been through this over and over again? That Lee and I have covered this territory since we started seeing each other? Someone could follow me home just on the idea that I work for The Agency. But that hasn't happened yet." 

"Yet. Isn't that the operative word? You haven't been working there long enough to make enemies. Lee has. How does it feel to be a moving target for your new husband?" 

Amanda pulled back slightly from the table. Previously, Joe had seemed ok with the idea that she and Lee were married, but now it seemed like he'd spun around 180 degrees. The only way she thought of to be able to diffuse some of his anger was to let him in on some of the truth. "Joe, there's something I ought to tell you." 

"Don't change the subject, Amanda." 

"I'm not. Joe, I've been working for The Agency for almost 5 years." The clatter of his silverware against the salad plate brought a few looks from other nearby diners. 

"5 years!" Joe's tone of voice and increasing volume drew a few more interested stares. 

"Joe! Keep your voice down. This isn't something that I broadcast around. Yes, it's been 5 years." 

"How did this happen? How'd you get involved with this place for 5 years?" Joe looked confused. And Amanda didn't really want to cover this part of sensitive ground. She took a deep breath before starting. 

"Well, I was taking a friend to catch a train, and this very desperate looking waiter came up to me and asked for my help. He asked me to take a package from him and give it to a man in a red hat. That's all I had to do, and I could forget the whole incident ever happened." 

"But you didn't. You had to take the package home, find out what was in the package, who it was from, and why the man in the red hat had to have it, right?" Joe knew his ex-wife's curious streak ran over two miles wide, and he smiled, knowing he was right. 

"Not exactly." Amanda took a sip of water. "I did have to take the package home, but not necessarily because I wanted to." 

"Excuse me?" Joe looked truly confused. "You didn't want to take the package home?" 

"No. I wanted to be able to forget about the whole thing, but I couldn't give the package to the person it was intended for in the first place." 

"Why not?" 

Amanda was thinking about that very first moment that she met Lee, and replied, "It's the Shriner's fault." Amanda took another sip of water and a bite of her salad. While she was chewing, she watched Joe's reaction to her answer. She was completely unaware that the very same response had been given to her youngest son at the same time she gave it to her ex-husband. 

Joe had become accustomed to Amanda's strange stream of consciousness way of getting to the point, but this was a little too far out in left field. 

"Amanda, what are you talking about?" 

"Shriner's, Joe – they wear these little hats-" 

"I know. A fez. So, what does this have to have do the train and the package?" 

"All the hats were red." 

"So wh- oh." Joe nodded as he made the connection, looking down at his barely eaten salad. "And the desperate looking waiter was-" 

"…He was Lee." Amanda finished for Joe. "I don't know why I did it. He was begging me for my help, and for some reason I just couldn't turn him down. Long story short, I ended up helping him out with what was going on related to the package, and that's when Mr. Melrose offered me some part-time work there. One thing led to another, and…" Amanda trailed off, remembering some of the things that happened in those first couple of years she worked with Lee. 

"And you and Lee got involved." 

"No, not right away. When I first got to know him he was the most shallow, self-centered, egotistical man I had ever met. Then I got to know him a little better, and found out some things that he admitted that he had never told anyone." 

While Amanda was speaking, Joe marveled at her ability to draw conversation out of anyone, no matter how tough the subject was to discuss. He had to admit that this was probably one of her more valuable skills as an agent. 

"Before I knew it, 3 years had passed. I had gotten some training along the way, made some friends, earned a little respect for my skills. I felt, in some small way, I was helping make the world a nicer place to live. Remember when you came back from Estocia and had that trouble with the Prime Minister and the EAO, and may I remind you that our sons were in that gym during that incident and it wasn't Agency related?" 

"Good point. How could I forget? All that trouble I got into… And that was the first time that I'd seen you in a long time. You seemed so different." 

"Well, you'd said that whatever it was that I was doing suited me. Well, it wasn't just what I was doing at The Agency, but also whom I was seeing there. That's around the same time that Lee and I started seeing each other." 

"Ah. That's why I saw him at Dooley's that night." Joe admitted this and kept pushing his salad around the plate. 

"You saw him there? Oh, Joe, I had no idea he was going to be there. And I didn't think you'd seen him." 

"How could I not notice how distracted you'd gotten after we finished dancing? It's all right, Amanda. I pretty much knew that it was over for the two of us, but I had to ask that night. But I still don't understand how you can work with Lee and not be concerned with some of the enemies that he's made over the years." 

"Joe, a lot of Lee's enemies are some of mine too. There are a few who've tried to come back for revenge and that's when they could have built a grudge against me. There are countless others that we've encountered together for the first time. But through all the situations that Lee and I have been in, we're always watching out for each other. We have been since that very first day. We're on the same wavelength sometimes, and it's comforting that he knows what I'm thinking with just a look." 

Joe nodded. They had never had that kind of non-verbal communication, and he was experiencing this for the first time with Carrie. He watched Amanda take a long sip of her water and then pick her fork up again and the look on her face change to something more thoughtful and introspective. He wondered what she was thinking about, but decided not to ask as he noticed an almost imperceptible shake of her head. 

If she only knew that the conversation she had been having with Joe was startlingly similar to the one Lee was having with Jaime at pretty much the same time. 

~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK 

On Monday morning, Billy found himself walking around as usual, balancing the morning news, a few overstuffed file folders, a cup of coffee and a doughnut. He walked into his office to find Becca Dobson already there, comfortably sipping a cup of coffee sitting on the small couch across from his desk. 

"Good morning, Billy. I know you're always busy, especially on Monday mornings, but I thought waiting for you here would be a good idea." She looked up with a smile. 

"Morning, Becca. And you're right, some things never change. What do you need?" 

"Something to do. Billy, I've been out of rotation for a while, and I need something to do. I've done enough milk runs in the last few days to drive even completely green rookies nuts. I need a challenge." 

Billy set down his armful of paperwork while barely disturbing the coffee and doughnut. He wondered when he was going to have this conversation with Becca, and it came a lot earlier than he had expected it to. 

"Becca, I thought that you'd appreciate the milk runs. After 4 years on assignment, I thought you'd want a vacation from the tough stuff. I have enough agents to cover-" 

"Cut it, Billy. Remember, Francine told me all about Lee and his partner being let go. I know you're scrambling, and why waste my talents on milk runs that you could give to the first year's?" Becca had made an excellent argument, but she didn't expect the curve ball that was about to come her way. 

"You're absolutely right." Billy paused to take a bite of his doughnut and watched his agent carefully. She was about to say something and then stopped to stare at him. He chewed the mouthful carefully and smiled to himself. He had been giving this some thought for a couple of days already, and figured that when Becca came to him, he'd offer the position to her. "Becca, how would you feel about taking on the Q Bureau? It would be on a temporary basis until I can get Lee and Amanda reinstated." 

"Lee's office? Are you sure?" Becca wasn't thrilled about this twist in the conversation, but the Q was never boring, and she certainly could use the experience running the department. 

"Yup. I need someone experienced, and I can't spare Francine. I have to be honest with you – you have some huge shoes to fill. Lee and Amanda are the best team that this Agency has ever seen, and they ran that Q Bureau very efficiently. Francine was my first choice to take it over when Lee was officially terminated, but as I said, I can't spare her. You're next in line. So, what do you say?" He knew he had his agent as soon as he looked up at her face. 

"Thanks, Billy. I'll take it." 

"It means paperwork, Boo, and I know you hate that more than Scarecrow does." 

"No problem. I'll take anything over boring milk runs."   
  



	4. Minding our manners and our behavior

TPWP ch4 Title: The Price We Pay 

Disclosure: Warner Brothers Television Distribution and Shoot The Moon Productions owns these characters, as well as to the writers, and actors who   
created and portrayed them. Generous references to the past and the events of the 4th season… I don't make any money off of this – my only reward is   
my personal satisfaction at having written a decent story (and the story is all mine). Oh, and any new characters that you meet along the way - those   
are creations from my own twisted imagination, so hands off, unless you ask for permission to play with them. 

See Chapter 1 for more information on timing and all that other good stuff... 

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"Scarecrow, mind your manners." Lee instantly went on the alert when he heard Billy Melrose's voice on the phone with the recognition code that there may be extra ears. He'd already had enough of people listening on him, after the stunt that Smyth had pulled a couple of weeks earlier. 

"I'm being good, I can't say the same for the kids. Wanna go out for a drink, Billy?" 

"Sure. How 'bout that old bar that we used to go to… I can't remember the name of it, though." Billy was certainly trying to be evasive. 

"Are you thinking of where Amanda and I had that huge fight?" Come on, Billy… is it Nedlinger's or Randy's…. 

"You fought at that place? And didn't get thrown out? I don't believe it. Besides, you two never fight. See you there in a half hour?" He definitely meant Randy's, and fast. Billy must be thinking to leave quickly before someone picked up a tail on him. Smyth was serious about keeping Lee and Amanda locked out. 

"I'll be there." Lee hung up the phone, and looked around him. No one was in sight, but Amanda often had the practice of moving through the house very silently. He guessed she was probably in the laundry room from the last direction he saw her head in. He slowly headed in that direction as quietly as he could manage. Before he could make it within visible range of the doorway, Amanda spoke. 

"Don't even try it, Stetson, unless you want to have soapy clothing thrown in your face." Amanda over her shoulder as her husband came into view. She had suds up to her elbows, as she rooted around in the washing machine. 

"Amanda," Lee said cautiously, "what is going on here?" Once he asked that question, he really wasn't sure that he wanted the answer. The answer probably had to do with the tendency for Amanda's appliances to commit suicide, usually when she was short of money, or during other completely inconvenient timing. 

"The washing machine decided to throw a fit and die in the middle of the spin cycle, without running a rinse first." 

"Huh? Plain english, please?" 

"Sweetheart, that was plain english. You've not used to doing laundry like regular people. When you throw clothes in a washing machine, you throw in soap and the machine fills with water and moves the clothes around. Then it drains and fills up with water again to rinse the soap off the clothes. Then it drains again, and spins the clothes very quickly to get the water off the clothes." Lee was nodding, but looked perplexed at this last statement, so Amanda continued to clarify. "It spins the clothes so that we don't have to wring them out when we pull them out of the machine. Then we can put them in the dryer or hang them outside to dry. This piece of machinery," she gestured with a sudsy hand, "decided to skip getting the soap out of the clothes and headed straight for the spin cycle." 

Lee thought about this for a minute. "These things connect with hoses, right? Maybe one got disconnected and couldn't get water into the machine?" 

"Then it would be highly likely that we'd have the newly formed Lake Stetson on the floor of this little room. I don't think that's it." Amanda finished pulling the last of the clothes out and dumped them into a tub that was at her feet. She moved the tub out of the way with her foot, and reached over to restart the washing machine. Nothing happened. She lowered the lid on the machine hoping that perhaps it thought that it was still in the middle of the cycle and would start up once the lid was down. Once again, nothing happened. She groaned as she laid her head down on her still sudsy arm. 

"It's dead, huh?" 

"Yehe, amiwoderngwtsnthzusdepc," Amanda mumbled into her arm. 

"I'm sorry, I don't understand arm mumbling, Amanda." 

She lifted her head to repeat her statement in a doom filled voice. "Yes, it did die. And I'm wondering what's appliance is in the suicide pact with *this* one." 

"Don't be si-," Lee stopped himself from going further with that statement after remembering how angry Amanda was after her lawnmower and station wagon decided to die on the same day a year earlier. "Don't worry about it. I'll take a look at it when I get back." 

"Back? Where are *you* going?" 

"To Randy's bar to have a drink with Billy." He smiled that mega-watt smile at his wife, thinking that she'd pick up on what was going on. 

"My washing machine just died, we don't have a way to do all the laundry that's piled up for the last few days while we were moving you in, and you're going out for a drink with Billy. I just don't under-" Amanda was cut off by Lee holding one hand up. 

"He told me to mind my manners, Amanda." 

"Oh." She thought about this for a moment, realizing that it had to do with their jobs and the potential of getting them back. Acting as if there were extra ears listening to them, she simply stated, "Have a good time." 

~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK 

He walked into Randy's 40 minutes after last speaking with Billy, and looked around. There were a fair amount of people in the bar for that time of day, but not enough to make it a problematic meeting place. Lee walked along the bar, and then turned towards the booths near the back. He found who he was looking for in the last booth in the corner – as far away from any other doors or rooms as one could be in the place. 

"Pick up an extra guest, Scarecrow?" 

"Nah, Billy. The washing machine decided to commit hara-kiri, and we're hoping that it didn't have an agreement with something else in the house to die." 

"Lee, I never thought I'd see the day when you'd be talking about household appliances as if it were perfectly natural." Billy shook his head and looked back down into his beer. 

"What? It isn't natural for the washing machine to up and die?" Lee smiled, his hazel eyes twinkling at his boss' teasing. "Amanda's got it covered. Much better than I could have handled it right now, anyway. So, what are the latest goings-on?" 

"Not much. Smyth is working his way through the ranks, though. Anyone who's got even the most remote personal connection to anyone else in The Agency is being raked over the coals. I don't get it, Lee. He's even going after the guys who stage monthly poker games about fraternizing outside the work environment." 

"Sounds like someone burned Smyth badly in a personal way. That doesn't give us much to work with as to why he worked so hard to bounce Amanda and I. Do you think that he tried to get involved with someone in The Agency and it went south?" 

Billy shook his head. "I couldn't begin to tell you, Lee. That man's personal life is more secret than the Hoover files were. But you have my backing, unofficially of course, if you want to pursue this. I, for one, am going to take a stroll up Pennsylvania Avenue later this week, and see if I can't ruffle a few feathers about what's going on." He took a sip of his beer and continued before Lee could interrupt him. "Don't worry about it, either. I have a few contacts up there, and you and Amanda have done enough to have your names on the President's desk more than once in a favorable light. I'm sure I could make a few statements on your behalf and get a temporary re-instatement for the two of you, but that's going to take some time and some doing." 

"Thanks, Billy. Hey, I meant to ask you: have you shut up the Q, or is Francine handling it now?" 

"The Q's still active, Lee, but I can't spare Francine at all now that you and Amanda are out. Until then, I gave it to Becca Dobson." He stopped his beer mug from making the full trip to his mouth and looked over the mug at Lee. 

"Becca Dobson? Wait a minute, isn't she supposed to be in contact zero – and extremely deep cover?" Lee had creased his brow at this development, and didn't seem too pleased that she was the one who had the Q. 

"Yes, and we managed to get her out of there two weeks ago with tons of information. She spent about a week in debriefing, and Pfaff has cleared her to work in the field again. I'd been giving her milk runs, but she tired of it, and I offered her the Q." 

"I hope you told her it was on a temporary basis." 

"Of course, Lee. And we both know she hates paperwork more than you do, but she wanted it anyway." Billy took one more sip of his beer before putting the mug down and pushing it away. "I hope this doesn't make anything uncomfortable for you, considering your history with Becca." 

"No. That was over long ago and far away. Long before I even knew Amanda existed. No worries." 

"Does Amanda know about her?" 

"No. But she will tonight. I don't want to have to explain Boo after she and Amanda run into each other. That would be worse than when Amanda first met Francine. I can just see it now – and I thought that Francine had been hard on Amanda when they first met and she started working with me." Lee stretched his arms out, and then used them to push himself up out of the booth. "Thanks for the time Billy. I should get back home." 

A sultry voice behind him spoke up. "What's your hurry, handsome?" 

Lee turned around to face the sparkling blue eyes of Becca Dobson. "Becca. Good to see you again." He put one hand out to shake hers, but she would have none of that. She leaned in closely and aimed a kiss at him, but her target was misplaced as Lee had turned his head so she could catch him on the cheek. Becca raised an eyebrow at this, and she took another step towards Lee. 

Lee, knowing what Becca was about to do, took one step back away, and turned slightly so that she couldn't corner him back there with Billy. Now he was able to keep the booth and Becca behind him and have a clear path to the exit. Becca started to pout slightly as she realized that Lee had the advantage of escape. Knowing that she had lost, she put her hand out for Lee to shake. He grasped it lightly and then let go quickly. "So, Becca, I hear you've gotten stuck with the Q while my partner and I are on the outs." 

"Yes, Billy thought that I was more than capable of handling it, and I agreed." 

"Well, don't get too comfortable up there. It's only temporary." He smiled knowingly at Billy. 

"I won't, Scarecrow. It's lonely up there, and I'm definitely going to need your help to dig my out of the place." Becca stated this in such a leading tone that you would have to be the village idiot to not know where she was going with this statement. Billy stayed wise and silent as he got up to leave. "And, after all, it's more fun with two." Billy and Lee looked at each other and rolled their eyes. 

"Nice to know after so many years that you haven't changed a bit, Becca. Remember, Amanda and I are going to want our office back, so keep it in good shape for us." With that, Lee turned to leave. 

"You can count on it, Scarecrow. You can count on it," Becca said almost to herself. 

Billy chose this moment to interrupt her thoughts before he left. "Boo, he's a happily married man. Amanda's a wonderful woman – I couldn't have asked for better for him. I don't know of anyone who would want to hurt either of them." The tone in Billy's voice dropped to an almost threatening level for that last statement. He turned to leave but Becca's voice stopped him. 

"Come on, Billy, do you honestly think that Lee Stetson has changed his stripes? This is the man who works 10 minutes a day, and works 2 different women a night." 

The older man was slow to smile. "It's been 5 years, Becca, since you've been around. And things have changed. You said so yourself." With that, he walked away, leaving the agent alone in the back of the bar with her thoughts. 

Becca watched the older man leave, and quietly mused on his last statement to her. 'You're right, Billy. Some things have changed. And some people never change,' she thought to herself. She hadn't changed much in the last 5 years despite the deep cover she had to maintain for most of that time. And she was willing to bet that Lee Stetson hadn't changed that much either. 

~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK 

Lee walked back into the house, placing his keys on the little table by the front door out of habit. Amanda had installed a rack for keys by the corkboard in the kitchen, but Lee hadn't gotten quite used to it. Besides it was easier to just look towards the front door when he needed to go out, and if the keys to the 'vette were missing, he'd know to head straight for Philip's room. 

He shook his head over that one for a moment. When Philip had first seen the car he had been very admiring of Lee and the car – it was almost like hero-worship. They both loved to play basketball and watch it on television; they shared a love of fast sports cars; they had no qualms about ordering pizza for dinner. But something changed and Lee couldn't quite figure out what it was. Shortly before he and Amanda had announced their marriage, Philip had started to distance himself from Lee – he was acting very similar to Jaime – sort of. He lightened up a bit when Lee had asked if it was ok for him to move in, but within a day he was sullen, and un-responsive to Lee. Upon hearing that Lee and Amanda were more involved than anyone knew, Jaime had lightened up considerably towards Lee and they had started to develop an easy pattern of conversation with each other, and weren't uncomfortable around each other anymore. Now it was Jaime's turn to tell Philip to lighten up on Lee. 

Both Lee and Amanda had thought that Philip's attitude was due to the misunderstanding that arose when he had called over to the apartment one night and Lee's therapist (an old female friend) had answered the phone. Both Lee and Amanda also thought that once the misunderstanding had been cleared up, that Philip's attitude would blow over. But so far, it had not, and neither of the two agents could figure out the solution to this puzzle. Either way, they still had a problem relating to one of the boys. Lee realized that he was learning parenting as a crash course – much in the same way Amanda learned how to be an agent – flying by the seat of her pants (sometimes, literally). And that in both jobs, solving the mystery was half the challenge. 

The house was still and quiet for the time that Lee was standing there, and he called out, "Anybody home?" Nothing answered back at him except the ticking of the kitchen clock. It was a rare occasion that he was alone in the house, and that still made him a little wary of wandering around. He knew that he could go wherever he pleased now – it wasn't as if he was sneaking into the house to check up on Amanda, or to check things out when the family was out camping or on a trip – but he still sometimes felt like he didn't belong there. Shrugging the feeling off as being silly, he headed into the kitchen hoping that he would find the mail somewhere as the box was empty outside and the bills they had left earlier for pickup were gone. After checking some of the usual spots, he looked around and saw a stack of letters and a purple box on the kitchen table. 

Lee picked up the letters and flipped through them – one from Lillian to Dotty, another to Amanda from a woman whose name he didn't recognize, some junk mail, another bill – but that box caught his attention. Whoever had brought in the mail earlier had taken it out of its wrapping paper, which was nowhere to be found. The box stated that it was from an outfit called "Rebecca's Fantasies". Lee found that a small smile had crept up on his face, thinking that Amanda had bought them a little present. He knew that there wasn't anyone in the house, but he looked around himself anyway before he lifted the lid of the box very carefully to peek inside. He caught a quick glimpse of something black and lacy just as the front door banged open and he heard Philip and Jaime come in the house and head for the den. He grabbed the box and headed upstairs quickly to deposit the box in his and Amanda's bedroom. He slid the box under the bed, and went back downstairs to greet the boys. As he rounded the corner to get back into the kitchen, he ran right into Dotty. 

"Oh! Lee. I'm sorry. Are you all right, darling?" Dotty looked distracted and flustered. 

"I'm fine. It's ok. Is something wrong?" 

"No, I was just looking for a, er, letter, but I think I've misplaced it." 

"Did it come today? I was flipping through the mail on the table earlier, and I only saw a letter to you from Lillian, but if it's somewhere in the house I can help you find it." 

"No, Lee, thank you. That's all right. I'm sure it will turn up somewhere." Dotty smiled reassuringly at her son-in-law. Before she could say anything further, Philip appeared and walked between the two of them as if they weren't there, heading for the fridge. She turned to her oldest grandson. "Philip, did you have a good day?" 

"Hi, Grandma. Yeah, everything was fine. Can I go over to Scotty's place to play some ball before dinner?" He deliberately was avoiding talking to Lee, which prompted the agent to take action. 

"Hey Philip, your mom should be home any minute now, so why don't you and I go shoot some hoops in the driveway?" Lee had put up a basketball hoop a couple of months earlier when it became more natural for him to spend more and more time in Arlington, rather than play ball with the boys on weekends at the park near his apartment. It also allowed for Philip and Jaime to bring their friends over to the house more often and payback for many of the times they had gone over to their friends' houses after school. 

"Uh, no thanks, Lee. Never mind, Grandma, I'll just head upstairs and do my homework." He grabbed the glass of milk that he poured for himself and headed back upstairs. 

Lee looked after the boy and shook his head. Jaime had entered the room by this point and kissed his grandmother on the cheek and quipped a quick "hey" to Lee while he headed for the fridge. He also grabbed a glass of milk and commented, "He's just being a lamebrain. I don't get how he could be so cool about you one day and be so down on you the next, Lee. I mean, I got over it, but I started out not liking you when you were nothing but cool to me. But he's not talking to me." 

Dotty just shook her head and pulled an apron out of a drawer to start working on something for dinner. Lee looked over at her and then to Jaime. "It's ok, sport. It's something that he and I are going to have to work out, whenever he decides it's time to work on it." He got a hopeful look on his face. "Wanna go shoot some hoops?" 

"Nah, I want to get started on my homework. But I'd be willing to beat you at Scrabble after dinner if we can get Mom to play." 

"It's a deal." Lee reached over to shake Jaime's hand and smile at him. He watched as his youngest stepson headed out of the kitchen in a much better mood than his brother had left minutes earlier. "Dotty, need any help with dinner?" 

"Thank you, Lee, but no. Just go into the living room and pick up the dictionary. No offense, but you're going to need it if you're going to play against Jaime and Amanda." She smiled at the look of dismay on Lee's face and turned back to the chicken she was cutting up for dinner.   



	5. Some things change, some people don't

TPWP ch5 Title: The Price We Pay 

Disclosure: Warner Brothers Television Distribution and Shoot The Moon Productions owns these characters, as well as to the writers, and actors who created and portrayed them. Generous references to the past and the events of the 4th season… I don't make any money off of this – my only reward is my personal satisfaction at having written a decent story (and the story is all mine). Oh, and any new characters that you meet along the way - those are creations from my own twisted imagination, so hands off, unless you ask for permission to play with them.   
Special thanks: to that lovely group that I chatted with one Sunday night when we talked about yogurt, words of the year from high school, and the best ways to torture information out of someone using peanut butter and a hungry doggie. You might see a couple of elements from that night pop up here and there in this chapter. 

See Chapter 1 for more information on timing and all that other good stuff... 

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Lee sat back against the couch, as he watched his youngest stepson place down the letters for zephyr on the board over a triple word score spot, using the 'R' off Lee's last word, rotary. That pretty much doomed Lee to taking last place behind Amanda. Jaime was running away with the points and the strange words. 

"What do you do in your spare time, sport? Read the dictionary?" Lee was clearly teasing Jaime, and the boy loved every second of it. He then turned to Amanda. "Did they change something in school? Instead of spelling, they teach obscure words and how to use them to your advantage in Scrabble?" 

Amanda and Jaime started laughing. Dotty wandered in to see what was so funny, and saw that Lee was being badly beaten at the game. "Didn't I tell you to read the dictionary, Lee? Why do you think that I don't play with them anymore?" Dotty sat down on the couch nearest to her son-in-law. 

"Between Amanda being an literature major in college, and Jaime reading all the time, I don't stand a chance unless I've read the 'Z' section of Webster's." 

Jaime had finally caught his breath and looked over at his stepfather. "You know how they always have the National Spelling Bee's and that kind of thing?" He waited until Lee nodded before continuing. "Well, our school always has that sort of thing, and so far, I've always managed to rank near the top of the competition. Two years ago I came in second, and the word I messed up on was 'zephyr'. I'll never forget how to spell that one again." 

"But what about 'multifarious', 'juxtaposition', 'extraneous', 'sadistic' and 'quinq-' whatever that word was – it sounds like you're speaking an alien language or something. What *was* that word again…" Lee looked truly puzzled. 

Amanda supplied the word for him. "Quinquagenary." 

"Now you've got it too! Amanda, what's in that yogurt? Because if it's going to cause you to speak in tongues, I should toss it all down the sink." 

"You're silly. The word was quinquagenary." Amanda said it with all the seriousness of Mrs. Marsten. She thought about suggesting that as the next password, just so Lee could struggle with it in the mornings. Considering that they all lived together now, Amanda didn't think that it would be the wisest thing to suggest, but it certainly would be fun. 

"Quinqua- what your mother said. I've never heard a couple of those before; much less know how to spell them. That's not something you're learning for a spelling bee, buddy. What's the deal?" Lee looked suspiciously at Jaime and noticed he was sitting a little bit far away from the table. "You don't have a dictionary on your lap, do you?" Lee tried to peek around the table. 

"No. And I don't read the dictionary – well, really. Grandma's right. I read a lot, and when I find a word that I don't know I always check the dictionary. And once I read the word, I seem to remember it. Most of the time." 

"So what does that 'quinqua-' whatever that word was, mean?" 

"It means a fiftieth anniversary." Jaime looked over at his mother, and then to Lee, who looked skeptical at the definition. "Go ahead, Lee, check the dictionary." 

Lee started to get up, but Dotty put a hand on his shoulder and pushed him back down. "Don't bother, Lee. You'll only find that he's right, and it won't make you feel any better about losing. I'd just stop the game now, and concede gracefully." With that, Dotty got up, and took her glass of milk up the stairs with her. 

"She's right, Lee." Amanda smiled soothingly at him. Jaime was beaming. 

"Fine. You win, sport. But be prepared, because next time I will be too." With that, Lee tossed his remaining word squares into the box. He got up, went to the bookshelves and grabbed the dictionary on his way upstairs, leaving Amanda and Jaime to clean up the rest of the game. 

"Mom, did I make Lee mad?" 

"No, but I'd be prepared for him to be using words he doesn't quite understand for the next couple of days." Amanda ruffled her son's hair, and picked up the Scrabble board to slide the tiles back into the box. 

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The next couple of days passed relatively uneventfully in the house on Maplewood. No new appliance problems, no rematch at Scrabble, and the phone was suspiciously silent. Dotty wasn't in the house as often, as she was spending more time with Captain Kurt, but when she was home, she could often be found looking in closets and under tables for something she had lost. 

Lee had just walked into the house on a warm Wednesday afternoon in July to find that the house was silent, except for the sound of a female someone muttering to herself. Lee tried to follow the sound of the voice he heard, which sounded a lot like Dotty, but was having a hard time because he didn't see anyone. 

He rounded the corner into the kitchen, noting that the voice was getting louder and clearer (and making deprecating remarks about her capability at remembering things), and suddenly found himself face flat on the kitchen floor, with a newly found ache in his head. 

"Oh Lee, are you all right?" Lee slowly raised his head and turned slightly to find that he had tripped over Dotty, who was lying down on the kitchen floor, near an open cabinet. Obviously she was looking for her lost item, and thought that it had made its way into the cabinet where all the baking sheets were kept. 

"I'm fine, Dotty. Just – oooOO." Lee winced slightly. "Ok, I take that back. I have a little bit of a headache now." He pulled himself into a sitting position, rubbing the top of his head gingerly. "I'll be fine in a few minutes. Look, do you need help looking for something. I'm really good at finding lost things and solving puzzles. It wouldn't be an imposition, really." Lee looked hopefully at his mother-in-law that she would take him up on his offer so that she wouldn't surprise him again. The other day when she thought the house was empty and walked in on him getting dressed was a little more than he could handle. Thankfully, he wasn't facing the door. 

"No, Lee. Thank you, but I'll find it eventually. It's just one of those things. I think I know where it is, but I have to retrace my steps carefully." She got up from her position on the floor, and started to use the counter to pull herself up. Lee quickly got up, and grabbed her hands to help her up. 

Just then, the phone rang. Lee and Dotty narrowly missed bumping heads as they both reached for the phone. Lee had the advantage with longer arms, and reached the phone before Dotty. "Hello. This is Lee." They still hadn't figured out what to call the house. Dotty lived there, and she was a West. Amanda's last name had been King for so long, that people were accustomed to hearing her name as part of the greeting, but now there was the new element of Lee being there. They had toyed with the idea of calling it the 'King-Stetson' household, but everyone agreed that it sounded pretentious and didn't include Dotty. 'West-King-Stetson' was a mouthful. Each individual last name didn't account for too many people in the house, so they had started answering the phone by naming who they were. 

"Lee, we need to talk." 

"Hi, Billy. It's nice to hear from you too." Dotty had been waiting for a sign as to who it was, and hearing Billy's name had her turning away from the phone and heading for the den. Lee supposed that she was going to try and turn that room upside down next. 

"We've got to talk, Lee. I took a little stroll the other day, and a few birdies let me in on some information." 

"Good news, or bad?" 

"Both. Meet me at Monk's in an hour?" 

"Sure. I'll leave a note for Amanda, and get going." Lee hung up the phone and pulled out a pad of paper. Dotty wandered back into the living room area, still looking around. She looked up and saw Lee, and noticed that he was writing a note. He felt like he was being watched, and raised his head. "Dotty, I'm going to be a little late for dinner. That was my old boss, and he's trying to work Amanda and I back into IFF, so I'm going to go join him for a drink." 

"That's fine, Lee. I'll make sure Amanda knows." Dotty waved her hand distractedly as Lee finished up his note, and headed for the front door. Before he got there, he immediately turned around, went back into the kitchen and grabbed the keys for the 'Vette off the hook that Amanda had labeled with his name. Someday he'd get used to people moving his keys around. Maybe. 

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Lee walked into Monk's, moving his eyes around the room quickly. All the usual people from The Agency were there, but many had gone a little silent when they saw Lee. He stepped down from the entryway, and started moving towards the back where he knew that Billy would be waiting for him. A few people greeted him as he made his way through the bar, but it all seemed like it was out of politeness rather than any real emotion. Once you were out of The Agency, no matter what the reason, you were basically poisonous for anyone who was still there. Lee knew this from first hand experience being under cover twice in the past as having either left The Agency or coming down like a burn out, but this time it was real, and everyone knew it. Both he and Amanda were out, and from everyone else's perspective, there was no way for them to come back in. 

If Lee had never felt alone before, he certainly felt it now. 

Lee sat down at the booth were Billy had a soda in front of him. "Jeannie will kill me if I keep going out for drinks after work, so I decided to keep it light tonight. Care for a beer, Lee?" The waitress had come by their booth and was waiting on an order. 

"No thanks. I think I'll just have a soda too. I keep coming out for 'drinks' with you often enough that Amanda's mother might start to worry about me having a drinking problem. That would be the last thing that I would need after the whole mess with Sarah." 

"So, what's Amanda been up to these days with all this free time?" 

"She's been keeping busy. Donating time to a few charities. Helping out at the school. Household chores here and there." Lee looked up to see the waitress, a delicate looking blond with a nametag that said 'Cindi', deliver his soda with a wink and a smile. Lee just slid the soda over and nodded his thanks. Cindi's smile faded into a slightly sad look and she walked away. 

"How is she sleeping these days?" Billy looked rather concerned about Amanda and the report that she had been having nightmares over that last case they had. 

"Better. She still has nightmares, but I'm right there when she wakes up so she has someone to talk to." 

"She hasn't called in to see Pfaff at all. You both know that where this case was concerned, Agency resources are still there to assist you - or Pfaff can recommend someone trustworthy - and there's always Sarah." 

"I know. She hasn't wanted to talk to anyone but me. But the nightmares aren't coming frequently, and last night she actually slept all the way through." Lee smiled and took a sip of his soda. "Really, Billy, we're ok." 

"So, Scarecrow, what have you been doing to keep busy? I know that household chores aren't your forte." Billy smiled widely at Lee. 

"Oh, a little of this and a little of that. I helped out Amanda by cleaning up the garage a bit. I've been unpacking some things and putting them here and there in the house. Been out taking some long walks and visiting a few family members." Lee's light stress on the word 'family' was not lost on Billy, but before he could ask Lee answered his question. "They're good, Billy, but not that good. They have no idea what's going on with Smyth and his little internal crusade. Did you find out anything interesting?" 

"You could say that. Which do you want first, the good news or the bad news?" 

"Doesn't matter. Either way Amanda and I are still locked out." 

"I took a little stroll up Pennsylvania Avenue, and the bad news is that Smyth was already there when I showed up, so I couldn't make any great inroads. The good news is that the President was not happy to hear that I was there on yours and Amanda's behalf to have your jobs reinstated. He was unaware that you two had been terminated, and when he found out the reason from Smyth, he was even less pleased. They were still talking when I left earlier, so it's possible that you may be back in the loop by tomorrow afternoon at the latest." Billy stopped to take a sip of his soda, and was distracted by the noise coming from the front of the bar. 

Lee turned in his seat to see what had caught his attention. Becca Dobson had just walked in wearing a bright red dress and a big smile. The other Agency members that were in the bar were greeting her loudly. Lee turned back to Billy. "Is this a case of the party-girl being back in town, or she bring down a big case today?" 

"Party-girl. Was there any real question about that, Lee?" Billy chuckled. 

"No, I suppose not. I guess some things never change, huh?" Lee took a deep sip of his soda, and almost choked when an arm slid around his shoulders and a sultry voice spoke in his ear. 

"That's right, Scarecrow. Some things never do." Becca had slid right up next to Lee in the booth, effectively trapping him until she got up. Both men greeted her in a flat tone of voice. "Am I interrupting something, gentlemen? It can't be business, not with Lee being locked out." 

"No. Just two friends having a drink." 

"Right, Lee. In the quietest booth in the back of the bar. Now, why don't I believe you?" 

"Believe what you want to believe, Becca. We're just having a drink together." 

"It doesn't look like anyone's doing any drinking right now. Come on, Lee, but me a drink for old times sake?" Becca looked pointedly at Lee, who was alternating between staring at his soda, and shooting looks at Billy that clearly said 'help me out of this'. 

Billy stood up to leave. "Sorry, kids, Jeannie's going to kill me if I'm late for dinner one more time this month." He paused, trying to think of a way to get Lee out of there. Couldn't offer him a ride… "Lee, Jeannie would love to have you and Amanda over for dinner. Why don't you come along?" 

"Sounds great. Becca, could you please excuse me?" Lee turned towards the woman, hoping that she'd make her way out of the booth. She made no motion to leave, until Billy put his hand on her shoulder, putting a little pressure on to convince her to move. Becca reluctantly got up to leave, allowing Lee to slide around her and have a clear path to the door. "I'll just give Amanda a call to meet us at your place." 

"Sounds great, Lee. I'll settle our bill." Billy wandered over to the bar, pulling out his wallet along the way. 

Becca grabbed Lee's arm before he could move completely out of reach. "Lee, I meant what I said. Buy me a drink for old times sake. You can always have dinner with Billy. Let's reminisce for a bit." Becca moved in closer, placing both hands on Lee's arms and moving up towards his shoulders. She lowered her voice seductively. "We could go over to your place?" 

"My place is Amanda's place, and I don't think she'd be too pleased with the reminiscing that you seem to have in mind, Becca." Lee plucked her hands from his arms and dropped them, while taking a step back to move out of her reach. Becca instantly started to pout. 

"Lee. I've been lonely. And the only person who could ever make me not feel so lonely was you. We used to have so much fun together." Becca smiled at him and arched one eyebrow to make her point. 

"Well, I think that was because I was lonely then, and if you put two lonely people together, Becca, they're usually not lonely anymore. But I'm not lonely anymore." To make his point, Lee lifted his left hand to show his wedding band. 

Becca kept the smile on her face as he showed his ring to her. "Very pretty, Lee. But some people never change, and somehow I doubt that a little housewife-turned-spy could really make you *that* happy." She stepped closer and looked him in the eye meaningfully, before she swept her eyes down toward his crotch. "Or as well-fulfilled as *I* used to make you." 

Lee immediately went into Agency mode. He shot Becca a cold look that almost threw the female agent off balance. "Amanda Stetson has made me happier and more fulfilled than anyone ever could. Especially you, Dobson." Lee turned and almost ran right into Billy, who had finally finished sorting out the finances with the barkeep, after the waitress had mixed up their tab with someone else's. 

"Is there a problem here?" There clearly was something going on between the two agents – Lee looked like he was not quite finished hurting something, and Becca was obviously his intended target from the hurt look that she had in her eyes. 

Billy's comment brought Lee out of the mood he had dropped into. "No, Billy. No problem at all. Let's go get some dinner." He turned and headed for the exit. Billy followed. 

Becca sat down in the seat previously occupied by Billy and fought the angry tears that were rapidly trying to come to her eyes. She remembered years earlier when she and Lee had spent many a restless night in one apartment or the other, keeping the loneliness at bay. They had been the best things that happened to one another, so she thought. And he was the only person she thought of the whole time she was out of the country – she was looking forward to a reunion with Lee, and the only thing she figured that would have kept her from that would be if he had died while she was gone. After all, he *always* had a night free for Becca in the past, no matter who he had a date with in the past. She'd never figured on marriage and the Scarecrow meeting at any time. 'Who does he think he is, treating me that way? I just wanted to have a good time. That's all he ever wanted in the past, too.' Becca was getting increasingly angry as she sat there and thought about how he had turned her down twice so far. 'I want to find out more about that woman he married, too. What's she got that's so 'special'?' 

Becca got up from the booth and walked out of the bar, heading for her car. She decided to put in a late night in the Q, since there was nothing else worthwhile to distract her, and find out more about this 'Mrs. King' that had wound Scarecrow up so tightly. Agency records would undoubtedly have everything she needed to know about her – her record, her skills, and most importantly, where she lived with Lee Stetson. 

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Two hours later she had all the information she could ever want. The specific details about the Mrs. Welch case, how Lee came to recruit Amanda King at the train station, the fact that Amanda King had two sons, was previously divorced, and had managed to be accepted as a civilian partner to the best agent they had. Becca knew where she lived, what she looked like, where she shopped, what kind of breakfast cereal she bought, how often she bought marshmallows, and how much she received in child support from her ex-husband. That she had only used deadly force for the first time in their last case before Smyth cut them both loose. That she hadn't been made part of the 'Barnstorm' list until she had been working with Lee for 3 years. *That* certainly spoke volumes, but in which direction, Becca couldn't figure. Either Lee had thought that she wasn't worthy enough to put on the list for that period of time, or he had been trying to protect her by keeping her off of it. 

Becca's mind started working overtime. If Amanda King hadn't been trustworthy enough to be put on Lee's list of civilian eyes and ears, then she couldn't have been a good contact. She wouldn't be in a position to give him any valuable information about goings-on in the espionage community, but then, what single mom would be in such a position? If Amanda King hadn't been skilled enough to be put on the list, then why did Lee keep working with her – why did Billy Melrose keep suggesting, as the reports stated, that she be brought along to work with as part of the cover? There had to be some sort of skill there, shouldn't there be? 

Many of Lee's older reports from 4 years ago had Amanda King listed as being a royal pain in the rear, and that she was only being brought along as per the order from Billy Melrose. That tone changed about 3 years ago. Lee had even noted in one report that he had intercepted Amanda's resignation because it would be a 'small but significant loss to The Agency'. What was *that* supposed to mean? She figured that Lee didn't know either, but that it had sounded good at the time. Reports from as recent as a year ago listed Amanda as his partner, that she had made significant contributions to the cases, that without her he couldn't have wrapped the case up so quickly. The reports for the last 8 months had been issued from the both of them – put together as a team and co-signed by the both of them. Amanda had even worked a couple of cases with Francine Desmond and a couple of solo cases. Francine had had nice comments to make about Amanda's abilities, much to Becca's surprise. Francine didn't make nice comments about anyone who worked cases with her – even when Becca had worked with her, Francine didn't have anything complimentary to state in the reports. Amanda's solo reports lacked the ego that most Agency reports did – they were filled with straightforward facts and very little opinion on the situation, other than what was called for in their closing statements. This was a lady who took her job seriously, and Becca had to grudgingly respect that. 

Becca picked up the black and white photo she had found in the vault of Amanda King. She was an attractive looking woman, with an honest face, big dark colored eyes, but wasn't anything spectacular as far as Becca was concerned. 'What was Lee thinking when he got involved with *her*?' Treating this as if it were her latest case, and surmising that Lee wasn't thinking, Becca picked up a piece of paper and put it into the typewriter to put down the facts that she did indeed know.   
  



	6. Becca, Lee, Amanda and some history

Title: The Price We Pay

Title:The Price We Pay

Disclosure: Warner Brothers Television Distribution and Shoot The Moon Productions owns these characters, as well as to the writers, and actors who created and portrayed them.Generous references to the past and the events of the 4th season… I don't make any money off of this – my only reward is my personal satisfaction at having written a decent story (and the story is all mine).Oh, and any new characters that you meet along the way - those are creations from my own twisted imagination, so hands off, unless you ask for permission to play with them.

WARNING:THIS PART CONTAINS SENSUAL IMAGERY THAT IS A BUT STRONGER THAN THE PG RATING THAT THE FIC HAS IN GENERAL.I FELT IT NECESSARY FOR THE HISTORY PART OF THE STORY. 

See Chapter 1 for more information on timing and all that other good stuff...

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Lee made it home that night, unscathed.He and Billy walked out to the parking lot at Monk's, and parted ways, Lee thanking Billy profusely for getting him out of there and promising that he and Amanda *would* come over for dinner sometime soon. 

While stuck in traffic trying to make it home to Arlington, Lee thought about his unique relationship with Becca Dobson.And unique was certainly an understatement when it came to Becca-Boo.

He'd met her in a nightclub in D.C. in 1981 after a particularly harrowing day.He'd been shot at multiple times, had just missed obtaining a graze wound on his forehead, and really needed some company.He thought about a couple of his black books, but there hadn't been anything appealing to him.He knew that he wasn't going to find a good time between the pages, when all he'd wanted was a good time between the sheets.He wanted an affirmation of life and the way that Scarecrow found that was by finding yet another new bed mate.Lee laughed to himself – how much had changed in his life.If that very night someone had told him that in 4 years he'd fall in love with a single mom from Virginia, saying that he wouldn't have believed it would be an understatement.

Becca had always been an aggressive one – he remembered that he'd been sitting at the bar when she pulled herself onto the barstool next to him and whispered some sweet, sensual somethings into his ear.He raised an eyebrow at this and then turned to take a look at who was the woman being so forward.He stared straight into a pair of bright blue eyes with a dark blue rim, framed in a very pretty face.The only thing that kept him from thinking she was a black haired angel was the wicked way her eyebrow was arched as she smiled at him.He was pretty sure that he'd met that night's match. 

They left the bar together, and headed straight for Lee's apartment.They barely made it inside before they'd started pulling at each other's clothes.15 minutes later on the floor near the entryway they were gasping for breath – it had been hot and furious, as if they were both trying to prove something.A few minutes later they made it into Lee's bedroom, but the sex was still hard, and fast.After two more hours at that pace, they were weary from exertion and fell asleep with Lee still very firmly inside Becca.They woke up in those same positions an hour later, both very aroused.This last time was slow and sweet and almost loving.After it was over, they'd given in to exhaustion again, and fell asleep. 

When the sun rose, Becca was already getting dressed and getting ready to leave.She swept her hand over Lee's forehead, kissed him gently and walked out.She'd left a note that left her name, her phone number and a message-stating thank you in some very graphic terms.

Lee sauntered into the office the next morning with a spring in his step despite feeling worn out, a smile on his face, and no idea what was waiting for him in the morning staff meeting.He stopped by Billy's office before the meeting and heard that one new female agent had joined the team, and they were all supposed to do their best to make her feel welcome.Lee had always been one of the more gregarious agents, and made everyone feel welcome – especially the female agents.It was a clever act as he was always in control of his personal feelings – his persona around The Agency was mostly an act – he knew it, his co-workers knew it, Billy knew it.So it did come of somewhat of a surprise when he walked into the staff meeting and saw the woman from the night before sitting in his usual chair.And his fellow agents were a little intrigued by the fact that Lee Stetson's jaw almost hit the floor. 

Lee remembered that that was one of the few times that he had let anything take him by surprise.He made it through the day in somewhat of a daze, but realized by the end of the day that this was something of a blessing – she was a fellow agent – he wouldn't have to work an extensive background check on her if he was to see her again.But he didn't seek her out either.The next time they met was a couple of weeks later when they were on the firing range, and could barely keep their hormones in check.Lee went home that night, feeling very restless and frustrated, wondering what to do with the night.It was a relief when someone knocked at the door 15 minutes later and it was Becca looking at him with that same wicked smile she had when she first approached him at the nightclub.

Lee exhaled as traffic started to move again, remembering what a workout they had had that second night.Becca certainly had stamina and energy and creativity on her side.They agreed at the time that they both didn't like exclusive relationships, so there wasn't any regularity as to when they got together.Nor was there any pattern to how they aroused each other or what they did to relieve that tension.Sometimes it was a slow seduction, with confident teasing on both sides.Sometimes it was fast and hot, like that first night, when they'd barely make it out of the doorway when clothing that was in the way was pulled roughly aside.But no matter what, their meetings were always at Becca's insistence and convenience and were always fulfilling.

This 'relationship' was the only one, until Amanda came along, where Lee had kept complete control over every situation.And for some reason, with Becca dictating the when and where, Lee was ok with that.So whenever she gave Lee a call, he'd free up the night no matter who was in town, or what was going on that night.Since Becca was an agent, she had access to the on-duty roster and knew exactly when Lee was off, and she never interfered in his case schedule.There were always other new male agents that she could entertain herself with when Lee was otherwise occupied, or if she wanted something else from the night.It went on like this for months.There would be weeks where they wouldn't see each other except passing in the halls of The Agency, and then they would find themselves together for 4 or 5 nights in a row.

It was the perfect, convenient, no-strings-attached relationship. 

Then the Minsk assignment came up in August 1982 – a long term, deep cover situation, reporting only to Blue Leader.Even Billy couldn't argue her out of this one if he wanted to.Becca had made significant contributions to the solve rate at The Agency, and her skills were going to be needed on this case.She'd be leaving early the next morning on the first flight out, to establish herself and then move to a contact zero position.Lee congratulated Becca on being assigned to this case, and let her know that he'd be home on her last night in town.Somehow, he knew that she wouldn't come, mostly because he initiated the idea – Becca always had to be in control. 

Lee recalled going to bed late that night after a cold shower, and thinking about whom he would call the next morning for a nice private dinner at his place.He woke in the wee morning hours to the sound of someone trying to pick the lock on his front door.He headed into the living room; gun ready when the door slowly opened.He hit the light, hoping to surprise the individual, only to find Becca was the one opening the door.She smiled at him, arched that one eyebrow seductively at him and shut the door behind her.Lee remembered being furious and relieved all at once, and then forgetting how he was going to berate her when she opened her coat to reveal a short lace bustier and stockings she was wearing underneath.She'd left a half hour later, smiling and satisfied.And never to be heard from again for 5 years.After some time, Lee had forgotten about her – she was just another name in his little black book.

As he came back to the present, now driving through the streets of Arlington towards his and Amanda's home, he wondered if Becca had finally gotten the hint that Lee wasn't interested anymore.It was obvious that she hadn't changed – she still wanted that control she had over Lee once – but he *had* changed.Drastically.He was married – he'd made that fact perfectly clear – and Amanda wasn't one of his convenient relationships as he'd had in the past.As he pulled into the driveway of 4247 Maplewood, the sky just starting to give hints of dusk, he knew that he was firmly rooted in his present and future, and Becca wasn't even a blip on the horizon.And those little black books had been burned up quite some time ago.

But he still couldn't shake that niggling feeling that something was going to go wrong.He shook his head, clearing it of the negative thoughts – something Sarah had told him to do.He decided, as he got out of the Corvette, that when it came to Becca Dobson being back in town, Amanda had a need-to-know.

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He walked into the house to the smells of a beef stew on the stove, and the sounds of his stepsons quarreling in the den.He stepped into the den and cleared his throat – Jaime instantly settled down, and Philip muttered something under his breath about Jaime being a kiss up.Lee shot a look over at Philip, who immediately got up, grabbed his gear, and headed out of the room.Jaime just shrugged his shoulders and said, "He's been like this all day – this last argument was about whether or not you were going to bother showing up for dinner.I don't see why you wouldn't – if you can't make it, you always call."Jaime turned back towards his book.Lee walked out of the den, and looked around.There was no sign of Philip, or his stuff, which meant he probably had headed upstairs.He saw Amanda working at the gardening bench in the backyard and headed straight out. 

"Dinner smells wonderful."

"Thank you."Amanda turned slightly to smile at Lee."It's a good thing that I was working out here because I heard the car pull up.Otherwise it would have been a great opportunity for this trowel to behead the zinnias."She held up the dirt-encrusted trowel for emphasis, before turning back to her work. 

"Amanda.We've got something to talk about."

"Lee, if you're going to try and talk to me about Philip again, I don't know if I want to hear it."It was pretty clear that Philip was still trying to avoid contact with Lee, and his behavior was increasingly frustrating Amanda.The fact that Jaime and Lee were getting along as if they'd known each other their whole lives did little to assuage her feelings.

"No, this is about an old girlfriend of mine." 

Amanda turned to look at him suspiciously."Are you serious?"

"Yes, honey, I am.Come here.Sit with me." He reached for her hand and led her to the gazebo.They sat down, facing each other, adjusting their hands to stay in contact with one another."You know that I've met Billy at a couple of the usual places in the last couple of days.When I was there, an old girlfriend of mine stopped at our table."

"Lee, you always have old girlfriends stopping at your table, or calling you at The Agency.What's so different about this one?"

"She's an agent.She's just returned from a very, very long contact zero situation that started to turn bad."

Amanda got a serious look on her face immediately."Is she o.k.?"

Lee smiled."You know, that's one of the things that I love about you.No matter what you're facing, even if it sounds really bad, you still are concerned about everyone involved."Amanda smiled at this, but Lee continued before she could speak."Yes, she seems like she's back to her usual self, I'm sorry to say."

Amanda looked confused."What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that she's back on the prowl."

"So what?She's heard you're married, right." Amanda paused. "Lee?You *did* tell her that you're married and not even remotely interested, right?"

"Yes, of course I did.Billy was present both times helping me to try and get away from her."

"Did you just say 'get away from her'?Lee, what was your relationship like?"Amanda was looking very curious now, and very concerned. 

"It was very intense.Physically.VERY physically intense.And that's about the long and short of it."Lee looked almost embarrassed to be explaining this to Amanda, and looked down at his feet for a moment."We met in a nightclub, we slept together that night, and I had no idea she was the new agent on the team until I walked into work the next morning. She worked her way through most of the agents, old and new, and we kept each other around because it was convenient.Amanda, I'm sorry, I know you're not comfortable with this aspect of my past, especially when you were around for a good part of it, but you have to know about Rebecca."

"What's her name?"

"Rebecca Dobson.Most people call her Becca.Codename: Boo.Around The Agency, lots of agents called her Becca-Boo.It was cute, and she was the farthest thing from cute.And she's been the farthest thing from cute when she's been coming on to me.I wanted you to know about it in case she called here, or if we ran into her while we were out somewhere.She's not taking the fact that I'm married very seriously, and she wants to relive some old times."

Lee stopped to get a look at Amanda and gauge her reaction to this, but she was looking down at their hands entwined.He moved so that he could tip her chin up with the edge of his index finger."Amanda, she means nothing to me.She never did mean anything more than a good time.But I don't want her to be a surprise to you if you cross paths when we get back into The Agency.There's enough going on without you having to hear more gossip about when I'm going to get bored and leave you, and hearing Becca's name mixed up in that."Lee wiggled his finger, which was still under Amanda's chin, trying to get her eyes to meet his.The movement worked, and a small smile crooked up the corners of Amanda's mouth.

"There's my girl.You have nothing to worry about when it comes to Becca Dobson.She was one of the names in those black books we burned.Remember that night?"Lee certainly wasn't about to forget it.He'd given her a present for no reason, the box wrapped in a blue silk scarf.She loved the scarf, and then opened the box to find the books.They were hers as far as he was concerned – to do with as she pleases because he had no use for them anymore.She asked him to go pick out a beautiful white wine and some glasses.When he came back, she was sitting cross-legged in front of the fire, with the blue scarf draped over her white shirt.It almost took his breath away.She patted the spot next to her, and he poured them both a glass of wine.They toasted to each other, and Amanda started ripping pages out and throwing them into the fireplace.

"Of course I remember.I still love that scarf."Amanda smiled reassuringly at Lee. "I'm not worried.And thank you."She leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek. 

"For what?"

"For being you, and for being honest with me.Now let's go have some dinner."She got up, but Lee tugged her hand to keep her with him for just a moment more."Is there more?"

"Yup.She's currently heading the Q Bureau while we're out."  
  


"So… it's inevitable.I'm going to have to meet her sometime."

"Yes, you will.But this time off from The Agency is making you soft.You missed something that I said about our jobs."

"I did?"Amanda looked puzzled."I thought you were just trying to be positive about us getting our jobs back?"

"Nope.Billy took a little stroll to see the President and dropped the bomb that we were out of jobs.And the Commander-in-Chief was a little more than surprised to hear that, especially when Dr. Smyth walked in to have tea."

"Oh, poor Dr. Smyth."Amanda said this as sincerely as she could, but the look on her face belied her true intentions behind the statement. 

"Yes, poor Dr. Smyth.Billy told me to stay optimistic – we're probably going to have our jobs back sooner than we think."

Amanda sighed.Her vacation would be over.She would have to go back into The Agency and face receiving her firearm back.She shuddered, despite the warm weather, and the motion wasn't lost on Lee."Amanda, you'll be fine."She smiled, got up, and turned to lead her husband back into the house where dinner was waiting.

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As a result of their marriage, and the stress between Philip and Lee, Dotty was spending more and more time with Captain Kurt.This confused Amanda – it wasn't like her mother to run away from conflict within the family.Her mother's relationship with her sister Lillian was proof of that.It wasn't as if it was just Dotty trying to adjust to having Lee around.They were all trying to get used to bumping into each other all the time.It wasn't so bad when it had been the two older women and the two young boys in the house, but now there was an additional adult – a tall, male adult, at that – and it threw the entire balance of things out of whack.Amanda had no idea if her mother was just trying to adjust to the marriage, or to the newly added chaos in the house.

Then, of course, there was the additional problem of the one male adult addition knowing almost nothing about running a household.Or how to deal with a broken washing machine – other than to state that they should take everything out to be dry-cleaned.That alone would be enough to drive anyone to distraction.But Amanda didn't think that that was it either.

Dinner had been a quiet affair for a few nights with Dotty spending more time with Captain Kurt.The boys had both been busy with friends and summer activities and had been wearing themselves out lately.Amanda had been keeping unusually busy with charity activities, and Lee was spending as much time as possible talking with whomever he could to find out any information on why Smyth was suddenly cracking down on friendships within The Agency.They still had no word on their jobs, but Billy had told them that Smyth had been absent from The Agency for a few days, and it was just a matter of time.The only person who had had any energy to try and keep conversation going was Jaime, but this night he was exhausted over the day's activities and was barely awake through dinner.Amanda excused him halfway through the meal, and he didn't argue the point, but simply went straight upstairs. 

That left Amanda, Lee and Philip at the table.Lee and Amanda just kept looking at the older boy, who picked around his food.When he deemed it finished, he simply got up from the table, kissed his mother on the cheek and left the room.Lee followed the boy's movements until he was out of sight.He spoke softly, "That was unusual.I've never seen him kiss you after dinner is over."

"No, he's never done that before.But then again, he's never been this sullen and rude to you before either."Amanda's forehead creased in concern. 

"This too, shall pass.Why don't you take a rest, and I'll take care of the dishes."Amanda nodded, as she was too tired as well to argue the point with her husband.She got up from the table and moved towards the living room.Lee started to clear the table.He'd often helped Amanda with the dishes – hand washing and using the dishwasher – so he didn't feel lost or inept while handling this task. 

He loaded all the dishes carefully, rinsing those that needed it as he went along.He carefully measured the soap, placing it in the necessary compartments.He then turned the washer on, and then turned to take care of the leftovers and the pot that wouldn't fit in the dishwasher.

Once the leftovers were carefully stashed away in the refrigerator (and Lee thought some of the chicken casserole they had this night would be just right for lunch the next day), he turned to put the pot in the kitchen sink to soak.Just as he turned, he noticed that the dishwasher was very quiet, and the soapy puddle coming out of it was very large. 

"Um, Amanda?"

"Hmmm?"She responded sleepily from the living room couch where she was flipping through a magazine.

"I think I know what had the suicide pact with the washing machine."

Amanda sat up immediately to stare with alarm at her husband, holding a very dirty pot in his hands.She caught sight of the soapy puddle spreading towards the carpet, groaned and slid back down out of sight.


	7. Suicide and Roses

Title: The Price We Pay

Title:The Price We Pay   


Disclosure: Warner Brothers Television Distribution and Shoot The Moon Productions owns these characters, as well as to the writers, and actors who created and portrayed them.Generous references to the past and the events of the 4th season… I don't make any money off of this – my only reward is my personal satisfaction at having written a decent story (and the story is all mine).Oh, and any new characters that you meet along the way - those are creations from my own twisted imagination, so hands off, unless you ask for permission to play with them.

I apologize for formatting issues that appear... I'm really beginning to hate my computer... 

See Chapter 1 for more information on timing and all that other good stuff...   


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With her schedule clear for the afternoon, except to wait on the repairman for the dishwasher, no charities to support, or rummage sales to keep her occupied, Amanda decided that the best way to avoid any boredom would be to bake some bread.She had just set upon the task of kneading, her hands and forearms covered in flour and sticky dough, when someone chose that moment to call.Cursing herself for not turning on the answering machine, she grabbed a towel and quickly rubbed the dough and flour off her hands, and grabbed the phone on its 5th ring.

"Hello?"A split second of silence, a click and a dial tone.Amanda sighed and hung up the phone.Whoever it was must have decided that it wasn't important.Hoping that it wasn't Billy, she went back to her dough.Seconds later, the phone rang again.Deciding that it would be easier to clean the towel, she wrapped it around her hand to pick up the phone. 

"Hello?"Again, she was greeted with silence, a click and then the dial tone.Thinking to herself that it was a wrong number, she hung up the receiver, and started to clean off her hands.When they were sufficiently clean, she turned on the answering machine, and then turned back to the dough.'If this keeps up, I'm going to have to toss this and start over, or else it's going to be as hard as a rock,' she thought to herself, waiting just a few seconds before touching to dough to see if there was going to be another phone call, a deliveryman, or a nuclear disaster.When nothing came, she turned back to the dough.

  
Then the doorbell and the phone sounded at the same time.Amanda groaned, picked up the ball of dough, and threw the mess into the trash before heading for the front door.Upon opening it, she found Lee just about to insert his key in the lock, his arms juggling a load of mail, papers, and assorted books, and an amused repairman behind him.Saying nothing, she grabs the books on the top of the pile and moves back into the house with a smile, before turning to the repairman."Thank you so much for coming quickly.Follow me, it's back this way."Her voice faded as she led the repairman towards the kitchen, leaving Lee behind with his armload and an open front door.

"Hi honey, it's nice to see you, honey, can I help you with anything?"Lee whispered to himself as he managed to kick the front door closed with his foot.He headed for the den to put down his load, and then thought better of it.He followed his wife's voice to the kitchen, where he put everything down on the table, and started to sort things into various piles.The papers that he'd had hidden away and information from his network went into one pile, the books into another, and the day's mail into another.He heard Amanda and the repairmen go silent, and chose that moment to put himself into a precarious position."Amanda?Do I see the makings for some homemade bread on the counter?"He instantly regretted those words when he heard the growl and saw the look on his wife's face as she approached."I said something wrong, didn't I?"

"You bet you – oh, it's not your fault.I just got frustrated with so many interruptions while I was working on the bread that I just threw it out when the doorbell rang."She looked rather sheepish at this admission.

"Yeah, I saw the repairman as I was pulling into the drive and I guess he didn't hear me say that I could let him in.I shouldn't have grabbed all that stuff before heading in, but I didn't want to make the trip back out.Look, he's busy with the machine, and you've got enough supplies to start again.Why don't I run interference, and you get busy with more bread?" 

"Maybe later.What's all this?"Amanda started looking over the books and papers that were spread out over the table.She picked up the mail and started flipping through it, pulling out an envelope here and there. 

"Just some notes and papers that our friends were keeping for me.And a few things left in storage that I wanted to take a closer look at.Social registry and all." 

"Social registry?Looking for a debutante?"Amanda arched an eyebrow at Lee. 

"No.Looking for some history.Smyth runs in some pretty prominent circles, and he's never been one to miss a society party.So I thought I would do some digging on our favorite mess-maker and see if there's something that leads to why we're out of our jobs."   


"You know that's a long shot.Even if there's something in there, it's going to take time to find it."

"Yes, I do, but all we seem to have now is time."He swept his arm around to show the repairman and the bread makings on the counter.Amanda slowly nodded her agreement as she realized the truth in Lee's statement.She was still going through the mail, when an envelope caught her eye.She pulled it out of the pile and looked at it carefully."Amanda, something wrong?"

"I don't know, Lee.This is odd.It's addressed to me as Mrs. Lee Stetson, and there's no return address."She held up the plain white cardstock envelope for her husband's inspection.Lee took the envelope, looked it over, and handed it back to Amanda.

"Only one way to find out what's in it?Open it up, Amanda."She had been turning the envelope around in her hands, and was currently holding it up to the sunlight coming in the window to see if there were any identifying marks that would show from the inside of the envelope.She slid her finger under the flap, and pulled out a single sheet of folded paper.She unfolded the paper, read it, and a concerned look came upon her face."Amanda, what is it?"

She handed the typed sheet of paper over to Lee.He read the single paragraph. 

'Why would he bother to be with you?He was made for thoroughbred racing stock, not glue stock.' 

Lee look up at Amanda to issue an apology, expecting her to be upset.Instead, she looked angry with the letter."Well, at least the phone calls from the steno pool stopped."She looked up at Lee, and the anger previously evident had changed to resignation."How long are we going to have to prove to everyone that this isn't a joke?"She turned away and headed back towards the sink, where the repairman was still working and asked about his progress. 

Lee looked after her and said softly for no one but himself to hear, "Probably until we celebrate our 50th anniversary." 

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Now that they had the dishwasher and the washing machine repaired in the same week, the King-Stetson-West household was looking at a couple of days of leftovers and eating whatever they had on hand.The phone had started to ring at odd times of day and night, each one a hang-up to whoever answered the phone.The answering machine was on all the time now, but that didn't seem to deter the mystery caller.Amanda had already written off the caller as a persistent individual with the wrong number, but that didn't explain the continuing letter. 

A couple more anonymous letters addressed to 'Mrs. Lee Stetson' had come through in the previous couple of days.The latest one had a signature to the letter – 'Lee's next bedmate' – and this didn't make Amanda feel any better.She had no doubts about Lee's fidelity, but it wasn't sitting well with her or Lee that someone was harassing them this way.She became sure that the hang-ups were related. 

Amanda hadn't had any outside activities to keep her busy, and she was starting to feel a little confined.She'd been doing some gardening and yard work with Lee; this was helping stave off cabin fever, but it wasn't doing anything for a change of scenery.Lee had spent the day with one of his old physical trainers (and informants), and was planning to meet Billy at Randy's.He'd asked Amanda to meet them both there, so that she'd have a break from the house, the leftovers, and to see Billy again about their jobs.Just before she was to leave, a deliveryman arrived at the house with a dozen white roses.She smiled as she signed for them, happy that Lee had gotten over his aversion to roses to be able to give them to her as a surprise once in a while.The smile faded as she read the card. 'My condolences on the loss of your marriage.' This message, like the others, was typed, and didn't make Amanda any more comfortable with the situation.Whoever this was, and Amanda had some suspicions, was getting bolder about their anonymous contact.Amanda took the card with her, as it had the name of the florist, and threw the roses in the trash.

She drove to Randy's, and showed up just as the waitress had stopped to pick up the order from the table.Amanda declined ordering anything for herself; she and Lee usually shared dishes when they ate out together.This night would be no different than any other, so she hoped. 

"So, Billy, make any inroads?"Lee looked up from where Amanda's hand and his were entwined on the tabletop.Billy had noticed this too, and smiled.They weren't his favorite team for nothing. 

"Yes, actually I did.I have good news and bad news."

Lee groaned."Not again, Billy.What now?The President wants to invite *us* to tea, but Smyth has to be there too, right?" 

"Lee, settle down.The good news is that all the clearances are under way to reinstate you and Amanda within the next 48 hours.So you'd better spend those hours wisely, because once you're gainfully re-employed, you're going to be busy."Billy stopped to take a drink of his soda.As he did so, he stole a look at Lee and Amanda who had reacted in shock, and now were busy hugging each other and smiling.'If ever there was a pair that were made to be together, it's these two.'Knowing that his statement didn't only mean togetherness in a personal sense, but on professional, mental, and emotional levels as well would lessen the impact of what he had to say next.Lee and Amanda were congratulating each other, and had just turned to chatter at Billy, when they noticed the serious look on his face. 

"Sir?"Amanda spoke softly. "The bad news?"

"The bad news is that you're going to have to rotate assignments for awhile, until your partnership is reinstated."He held up a hand before they could protest. "I know I said you're on your way back, but as agents *not* as partners.Not yet, anyway.There's still some sort of problem with Smyth, and I'm still trying to crack that particular nut-" He was interrupted by Lee muttering something about 'nut is an understatement' and a sharp 'OW' when Amanda elbowed him for it."Smyth's motivation isn't going to be easy to find out, but with the both of you back on the inside, we should be able to figure it out.By the way, you two should work out who's going to work in the Q, considering I can't put the both of you up there." 

Amanda quickly spoke up."Sir, there's enough work in the Q Bureau that Lee and I could split it up easily and not cross paths.It's happened before."

"I know, Amanda, but-" Billy faltered.

"Amanda, Becca Dobson is handling the Q while we're out."Amanda's forehead creased in concentration, and then realization hit her face.

"I know you could feel uncomfortable with either of you working with Becca in the Q, which is why I wanted to make it your decision.Either way, you're going to run into Becca, Amanda – there's no avoiding it.With you back on board, I could move Francine up there, and you could help take over some of her duties." 

"Billy, you know that would overload Francine's case load.She's the best at the foreign dignitary and embassy row scene.Amanda and I will figure out what to do."Lee smiled at Billy, and looked to Amanda who was deep in concentration again.He nudged his wife, and she startled but smiled once she realized the conversation had taken a turn."Where've you been all night?"

"Amanda, is something wrong?"Billy always could tell when something was weighing down on Amanda's mind; this time there was clearly something important on the lady's mind tonight. 

Amanda pulled one of her hands out of Lee's and reached into her pocket to pull out the card."I received a delivery today before I came here, and this was the card enclosed."

She pushed the card across the table to the center, where either Lee or Billy could pick it up.Both men reached out for it, Billy was faster.He read the card, his brow creasing and then handed it over to Lee.Lee read the card and started turning it, tapping each edge on the table as it turned in his long fingers.He spoke in a calm, determined tone of voice. "Amanda, what was delivered?"

"A dozen white long-stemmed roses."

"Amanda," Billy spoke, "Is this the first time you received anything like this?"His concern was evident in his voice and face.

"No, Billy, it's not.Amanda's been getting letters.And I think the phone calls are related too." 

"Letters?Phone calls?Scarecrow, how come I haven't heard about this before?"Billy's voice rose.

"I wasn't concerned about them, sir.I figured it was probably someone who heard about Lee and I and was just jealous."Amanda looked down at the table.She quickly outlined the last few days worth of hang-ups and letters."They're all typed, and they're probably clean.There's no return address, and no signature.I've got them all, but I don't think you're going to get much from them.They're on plain white paper, no special marks or anything else to identify them."

"Amanda, there *was* a signature on one of them."

"Lee, that's not import-"

"Amanda, anything's important when someone is harassing one of my agents.What was the signature?" 

Amanda mumbled something as she looked down into the table.Billy looked quizzically at Lee who translated."It was signed, 'Lee's next bedmate', Billy."

"I'm sorry I asked."Billy knew Lee's restless past as well as any of them sitting at that table, and it wasn't an easy thing to bring up.Amanda tended to either tease Lee about it or look away from the conversation; Lee was usually embarrassed about it.It was something, however, that needed to be addressed."Lee, is there anyone in your past who was a little, er, unstable about their relationship with you?"

"No."Lee looked up, clearly uncomfortable and starting to turn red around the collar."There was always someone around.There were a couple of times at Embassy assignments where Amanda was with me, and at least one or two people from my past came a little too close.But no one had ever gotten obsessive about it.I think the closest I ever got to someone coming on too strong was Elisa Danton after Amanda and I had gotten married."He looked over at Amanda, and squeezed her hand, which he had been holding the entire time."I know this isn't Elisa at work – she and Amanda actually became friends after I brought them to meet each other."

"Elisa's too sweet to be behind this, sir."Amanda finally looked up and made eye contact with her boss."But I wonder if it's someone who's always wanted to get involved with Lee, and didn't get the chance?" 

"Amanda, I haven't met any new women lately.You won't let me prowl the nightclubs anymore."His voice whined, but his eyes twinkled with the tease, which made Amanda smile.

"Yes, I know.The old ball and chain, right?"Amanda's face changed slightly after finishing the statement."Sir, I wonder if there's someone at The Agency who's related to this?" 

"Why do you think that, Amanda?"

"Because how many of the women in Lee's past would know that he's moved in with me?Lee moved into that last apartment after he and I got involved, and didn't leave a forwarding address.It isn't likely that it's someone from his distant past, unless it's someone he worked with." 

"Amanda, there aren't that many people in the steno pool who would have access to our personal information."Lee looked over at Amanda, wondering what she was thinking. 

"That's why I think it might be an agent."Amanda looked around as the thought settled in with the two men at the table.Lee squeezed her hand gently – it felt to Amanda that it was almost as much as for himself as it was for her.Billy was clearly disturbed by the thought.

Just then, the waitress arrived with their food, and the three agents started to eat, the weight of Amanda's idea hanging over them.If there had been anyone watching the group, they probably would have thought their behavior odd.The previously chattering group fell to almost complete silence during the meal, and when they broke up for the night, it was with few words exchanged.


	8. Pizza and Surprises

Title: The Price We Pay  
  
Disclosure: Warner Brothers Television Distribution and Shoot The   
Moon Productions owns these characters, as well as to the writers,   
and actors who created and portrayed them. Generous references to   
the past and the events of the 4th season… I don't make any money off   
of this - my only reward is my personal satisfaction at having   
written a decent story (and the story is all mine). Oh, and any new   
characters that you meet along the way - those are creations from my   
own twisted imagination, so hands off, unless you ask for permission   
to play with them.  
  
See Chapter 1 for more information on timing and all that other good   
stuff...  
  
~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK  
  
Lee spent much of the next day with a visitor's pass and an armed   
guard walking him through The Agency with Billy. It would have been   
fine under normal circumstances, but considering that Smyth was in   
the building the extra security was thought to be a good idea. As he   
was driving home, Lee wondered for whose protection was the guard   
there for - his own or for Dr. Smyth's (should the older man happen   
by to antagonize him). This thought and a few others ran through   
Lee's mind as he drove through the Arlington streets that had finally   
become his home. As he pulled into the driveway, a once familiar   
van drove up to the front of the house. Lee got out of the Corvette   
and walked around the back to head off the pizza guy heading for the   
front door.   
  
"Didn't expect to see you around these parts for a while? What do   
you have tonight?"  
  
"Two large pizzas. Everything on it." The guy smiled as Lee pulled   
out his wallet and handed over a twenty and two fives. The guy   
handed over the pizza boxes. "Thanks, Mr. King!"   
  
"Stetson."  
  
"Excuse me?"  
  
"Stetson. It's Mr. Stetson."  
  
"I thought it was Mrs. King who ordered the pizzas."  
  
"It was. Now she's Mrs. Stetson." Lee looked back at the pizza guy   
who was looking rather skeptical about the whole situation. "Look,   
if it makes you feel better, we can ring the doorbell and ask her   
yourself…"  
  
"No, that's o.k., I guess." The pizza guy looked down at the cash in   
his hands and shrugs. "I guess that's the way it is sometimes."  
  
"Hey, maybe she ordered under King so you wouldn't get confused."  
  
"Yeah, yeah… maybe that's it. Thanks Mr. K- er - Stetson." The   
pizza guy turned and headed back to his van. Lee juggled his keys   
and headed into the house.   
  
"Amanda!"  
  
"Back here!" Amanda was calling from the kitchen. On his way back   
to the kitchen, Lee notices that the den is housing quite a few of   
Philip and Jaime's friends.   
  
"2 pizzas, Amanda?"  
  
"Hi. You grabbed the food. Yes, 2. I wasn't expecting the extra   
kids, but they didn't have anywhere else in the neighborhood to go   
tonight, and I managed to scrape together the cash and a coupon, and   
we might actually have a little bit of leftovers. What did you pay   
the guy?"   
  
Lee shook his head. She never ceased to amaze him with her nonstop   
chatter-all-in-one- breath way of communication. "I gave him $30."  
  
"30 dollars? Lee, when are you going to learn to pay for things like   
a normal person does? I had a coupon. You could have given him the   
coupon and $15 and it would have been plenty." Amanda wrinkled her   
brow at her husband's spending habits and started pulling down plates   
for the boys to use.   
  
"We can afford it."  
  
"We can afford it? After the washing machine, the dishwasher, and   
now the vacuum-"  
  
"Vacuum? What happened to the vacuum?"  
  
Amanda looked over at Lee, realizing that she'd been home all day   
without him around. "I accidentally knocked it down the stairs. It   
didn't live."  
  
"Ah, so it wasn't suicide. It was manslaughter." Lee chuckled as   
Amanda's face reddened at her clumsy act.   
  
"Vacuum slaughter, thank you, and don't change the subject! How can   
we afford you paying $30 for two pizzas that are worth $15?" Amanda   
looked over at Lee with the plates balanced on top of one of the   
pizza boxes.   
  
They both looked over at the phone when it started to ring. Lee held   
up a finger and picked up the receiver without saying a thing. The   
caller immediately hung up. Lee switched on the answering machine   
and turned down the ringer before continuing. He pulled an envelope   
out of his jacket with a large smile. "Reinstatement. Effective   
immediately. Old job, same position, higher pay. Least the country   
could do, according to the President." Lee reaches into his jacket   
and pulls out another envelope with Amanda's name on it. "I've got a   
matching one for you, whoa there!" Lee reached out to grab the pizza   
box from his wife who was ready to drop them on the floor in shock,   
and places it on the counter. "I've got the same for you.   
Reinstatement at your old clearance, and the same position too, but   
not the same partnership. You're temporarily in the bullpen pending   
further ruling on our partnership."   
  
Amanda finally found her voice. "Well, it's a start." She reached   
over to wrap her arms around Lee's waist and bury her head into his   
shoulder. She made a muffled sound that closely resembled a   
contented sigh. Lee stepped back, placed his hands on Amanda's   
upper arms and bent down slightly so that they were eye to eye. He   
waited patiently, watching Amanda until she spoke. "What, Lee?"  
  
"It's a start? Where's the Amanda I know who'd follow `It's a start'   
with `what do we need to do now to get this thing in gear'?" Lee   
cocked his head to the side, still keeping level eye-to-eye contact   
with Amanda.   
  
"Lee, it's a start. We don't know what Smyth was up to with bugging   
your apartment, and we may never know. And we don't know if we're   
going to get our partnership back, but for now, we both have jobs   
again. It's a start. It's a very good start." Amanda reached over   
and patted the middle of his chest. "You don't think it's a good   
start?"  
  
Lee straightened up before answering. "Yes, I do. It's a very good   
start." He drew her into a hug, placing each of his feet on the   
outside of hers. It made him feel more protective of her, and he   
knew that she loved it. She snuggled into him a little more, and he   
knew that there was a content smile on her face at that moment. He   
hated to disturb it, but… "Amanda?"  
  
"Hmmm?"  
  
"Did you bring in the mail today?" She stiffened against him even in   
the comfortable position. He ran a hand lightly up and down the   
middle of her back and she relaxed back into the snuggle.   
  
"No, I didn't. Why don't you head out to get it and I'll bring the   
pizza to the boys." Amanda pulled away and turned so he couldn't see   
her face. She grabbed the box with the plates on top and turned   
towards the den. Lee felt his shoulders sag at her reaction. These   
letters were taking a toll on her and she wasn't sharing it with   
anyone. He headed outside to get the mail, but waited to get inside   
before flipping through any of it. He sat down at the kitchen table   
to start going through the mail, and Amanda came over with the other   
pizza box and a couple of plates. She peered across the table as he   
flipped the envelopes into piles. There were the usual bills, junk   
mail, PTA newsletters, and one lone envelope that matched all the   
others that had been addressed to Amanda. Lee looked up to see that   
she had gone a little pale, but wasn't shaken up over its   
appearance. That was a good sign.   
  
"Amanda?" She looked up quickly to meet his eyes. "Do you want me to   
open it?" She nodded her assent. He picked up the envelope and   
slowly slit it open with the knife she'd brought to the table. The   
Agency lab techs had gone over every other envelope and they'd found   
nothing. Lee suspected that it didn't matter how he handled the   
contents, the result would be the same. Nothing. He quickly   
unfolded the sheet of paper and read aloud:  
  
`You've been carefully watching his behind… so have I. And it's   
been quite pleasurable.'  
  
A taunt. This time it was a taunt. Amanda put her head into her   
hands before Lee could say anything further about it, and stayed   
absolutely still for a moment. Then she raised her head and looked   
at Lee. "It's an agent. I just know it's an agent. And I don't   
like it one bit."   
  
Lee set down the letter and reached over to open the pizza box to   
grab a slice. "Amanda, we don't know it's an agent."  
  
"It says I've been watching your behind. That's what partners do.   
Watch each other's backs. I swear on a stack of Bibles that this is   
an agent." She picked up the letter to take a good look at it, as if   
she could find something else about it by looking. "Lee, did you   
notice this before?" She pointed at the letter `s'   
in `his'. "The `s' is drooping a little under the rest of the   
letters. Do you think that this could help us figure out where this   
came from?"   
  
"Amanda, there must be a few thousand typewriters in the region. It   
isn't against the law to own a Smith-Corona, and owners don't have to   
register them."  
  
"Yes, but they have to get them fixed. I wonder if this typewriter   
is going to see some service sometime soon." Amanda plucked her   
fingers at her necklace and her eyes drifted to somewhere else on the   
page, away from the lettering. She quickly shook her head, knowing   
that the answer wasn't going to come this night with this letter.   
Reached for a piece of pizza in the box, she decided it was time for   
a change of topic. "What made Smyth change his mind?"  
  
"More like `who' made him change his mind, Amanda. I still don't   
know the whole story, except that Smyth got lots of pressure from   
Pennsylvania Avenue about this, and that they were getting pressure   
from some international sources about our being out of a job."  
  
"International sources, Lee? Who?" Amanda's forehead furrowed   
slightly as she took a bite of the quickly cooling pizza.   
  
"I don't know. I've done enough favors to other Agencies around the   
world, and you've made enough friends in the last few years that it   
could be anyone. Heck, for all I know, it could be Alexi Makarov   
himself calling for our reinstatement just so he could try and   
discredit us again." Amanda started coughing after this statement,   
prompting Lee to administer a quick blow to her back while holding   
out a glass of water that had been left on the table. Amanda waved   
her hand to show that she was fine and slowed her coughing fit.   
  
"Well, whoever it was, I'd really like to thank them. I was starting   
to go nuts being at home all the time with just mom stuff to do."   
She smiled and winked as she took another bite of pizza.   
  
~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK  
  
Despite the situation with their partnership, it didn't stop the   
partners from carpooling into work together, or getting coffee   
together, or stopping into the staff meeting together. The meeting   
was filled with the usual madness, with the exception of the agents   
who were extremely grateful to see Amanda and Lee. They were   
especially happy to hear that Lee would be back in the Q, as things   
up there had seemed to grow a little disorganized with `Boo-Boo', as   
she was now being called, running the show.   
  
Lee headed up to the Q after the meeting, with Billy following.   
Becca had been absent from the morning meeting, and Lee was wary of   
that. As soon as he walked in, he knew he'd been away three weeks   
too long. There were piles of files everywhere, no apparent order to   
any of them, and no Becca there to explain them. Billy assured him   
that they would get Amanda up there as soon as possible. Until that   
happened, Lee would be alone in paradise, and Amanda would be   
scuttling administrative paperwork, security clearances, scouting,   
and some light Embassy work. He would have to wade his way through   
the piles and reports by himself. Billy left the room with a   
parting comment that no reports had been turned in since Lee left;   
then again, no cases had been completely closed to his satisfaction   
either. This added an even more unpleasant pallor to the day.   
  
By the time the sun was sitting high in the noontime sky, Lee had   
made significant inroads into organizing the piles that were on his   
desk. He wondered why there were older files about some of his   
earlier cases with Amanda, but figured that Becca might have needed   
something out of them or was using them for cross-reference. He had   
just finished clearing the top of the desk off, when Becca finally   
breezed in for the day, saying nothing verbally, but communicating   
instead with a smile and a wink, and a locking of the door.   
Noticing that Lee had reinstated himself back at his own desk, she   
made herself at home at Amanda's desk.   
  
"Move." It was a harshly delivered command while Lee made his way   
back to the Q Bureau door to unlock it.   
  
"I'm sorry, Lee. What was that?" Becca smiled ever so sweetly.   
  
"Move. That's Amanda's desk." He headed back to his own desk   
without looking at her.   
  
"She's not using it."  
  
"She will soon. Move."   
  
Becca looked up at this command and decided from the look on Lee's   
face that he wasn't kidding. She got up and sat down at the extra   
table that was perpendicular to his desk. "You know, Lee, a   
partner's desk would be cozy in here."  
  
"A partner's desk would take up a lot of room, and be a big   
distraction."  
  
Becca smiled her pleasure at his response. "A distraction?"  
  
"Yes, when Amanda's back up here permanently." Lee looked up and   
smiled, despite himself, at the thought of his wife.   
  
Becca took that as a good sign to continue her thoughts. "You're   
right. She'd be there in her little corner, and we'd be here across   
from each othe-"  
  
"Don't flatter yourself, Boo. She'd be sitting across from me and   
all I'd want to do is watch her work." Lee smiled again as he looked   
over to Amanda's desk, and then turned his attention back to the file   
open in front of him on the desk.   
  
Becca pouted and decided to work one of the oldest tricks she had in   
her book. She stretched out, her arms wide above her head, which   
accented the cleavage she had from the low cut white silk blouse she   
was wearing. Lee didn't move a muscle, instead turning a page in the   
file. "Lee, how about a drink? I'll buy?"  
  
"No thanks. Besides, you know the rules about working hours and   
barhopping."   
  
"After work?"  
  
"Nope. Plans after work."  
  
"Plans?" Becca looked confused at this statement. What plans could   
Lee possibly already have? He'd have to have spent the entire   
morning in the Q clearing up the files. She already knew, looking at   
the pile that was in front of her, that they weren't in the order she   
had left them. At least, she didn't think that they were.   
  
"Yes, Becca, plans. Dinner, wine, soft music?"  
  
"Got room for one more?"   
  
At this statement, Lee finally looked up, and smiled, thinking of the   
lingerie sitting in the box under his bed. Becca shifted her   
position, slightly, falsely realizing that she had gotten somewhere   
with Lee.   
  
"Sorry. Just enough room for Amanda and me tonight. No kids, no   
mom, no interruptions."  
  
Becca immediately started to feel her emotions rising to the surface,   
and to avoid losing her composure; she picked up the file in front of   
her and headed into the vault. Lee shook his head, and with a wry   
smile, went back to the file that he had been trying to concentrate   
on for the last 10 minutes.   
  
Just then, Amanda opened the door and peeked her head into the   
office, and noticed Lee was running his fingers through the sides of   
his hair while trying to read. She stood, leaning against the   
doorjamb for a minute, taking in the sight of her husband back at   
being frustrated with the never-ending paperwork. "Hi there,   
handsome."  
  
Lee looked up, surprised at first, and then smiling. He immediately   
got up and headed over to properly greet his wife, but before he got   
there, Becca walked out of the vault.   
  
"Oh, hello. And *who* might you be?"   
  
"Amanda, this is Rebecca Dobson. Becca, this is Amanda Stetson."   
  
The big emphasis on the `Stetson' part of her name wasn't lost on   
Becca, but she decided to play on it anyway. "Lee, I didn't know you   
had a sister?"  
  
"Becca," Lee growled, "This is my wife and partner, Amanda Stet-"  
  
"Oh, I know. I'm just playing with you. Amanda," at this Becca   
extended her hand in greeting, "It's so nice to finally meet you.   
I've heard so much about you."  
  
"Nice to meet you, Becca." Amanda simply grasped the other woman's   
hand for a very short moment, while Becca's gaze swept over her.   
Amanda had the fleeting thought that she would have been hit on if   
Becca were a man.   
  
"Well, I should be going. Congratulations, Amanda. You've got   
yourself a real keeper there. I'm off to have lunch with Francine.   
Ta!" With that Becca moved out the door. Amanda watched her go   
down the hall for a moment before shutting the door and engaging the   
lock.   
  
"Well. *That* was Becca. Pretty. Nice piece of work, Stetson."   
Amanda winked at Lee slyly, while sliding her arms around his waist   
for a hug. As he pulled her tighter into him, she leaned her head   
back to look him in the eye. Liking what she saw there, she lightly   
kissed him on the lips and moved out of his embrace to sit at her own   
desk. "I don't trust her."  
  
"What makes you say that?"  
  
"I don't know. I just don't trust her." She held a finger up at   
Lee's look. "Before you go any further, I am *not* jealous. There's   
just something about her that I don't like."  
  
"Well, you don't have to worry about that. There's a lot more about   
you that I like than I ever liked about her." Lee leaned forward on   
Amanda's desk to give her a little kiss on the nose. Amanda smiled   
and then got up from the desk.   
  
"You're sweet. Listen, I just wanted you to know that I was going to   
head home early. I finished up downstairs, and Billy doesn't have   
anything else for me to do, so I thought I'd take advantage of the   
afternoon and-"   
  
"..and do mom things?" Lee teased her, recalling the words of the   
night before.   
  
"No. Make a big celebratory dinner that we're back."   
  
"Ah, ah, ah. No making dinner for you, young lady. Don't make   
dinner."   
  
"Lee, we're not going out tonight."  
  
"No, we're not. We're staying home. And we're not having pizza   
leftovers either."  
  
"What do you have up your sleeve, Lee?"  
  
"Oh, just a little surprise. Now, could you go home and relax so   
that I could get some work done?"  
  
~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK  
  
Home, Amanda found, was nothing even remotely related to relaxing.   
The boys immediately started asking if they could stay at a friend's   
house for the night, and Dotty was moving around the house packing   
for some time away with Captain Kurt. After a few minutes of   
constant chattering in the house, Amanda couldn't take it any longer,   
placed two fingers in her mouth, and gave her best umpire's whistle.   
Everything around her stopped.   
  
"Ok. I've been home 5 minutes, and I feel like someone put me into   
the washing machine on ultra fast spin dry. One thing at a time.   
Philip and Jaime - are you going to be staying at the same house, or   
at different houses?"  
  
Philip spoke up. "We're going to be at Alex's, around the corner."   
  
"Ok then, you can go." The boys cheered and raced upstairs to get   
the last of their necessary items for the night together. Amanda   
just shook her head watching after them, and then turned to her   
mother. "Mother, do you need some help?"  
  
"With what, dear?"  
  
"With whatever it is that you've seemed to have lost and have been   
looking for, for the last few days. You've been distracted, bumping   
into everyone, and Lee told me about you walking in on him while he   
was dressing."  
  
Dotty turned slightly red, physically admitting her guilt. "I didn't   
think anyone was home."  
  
"Beside the point. Do you want some help? I'm starting to worry   
about you Mother."  
  
Dotty waved her hand off into the air. "Don't worry, darling. I'm   
fine. Just enjoy your night off with Lee. After all, it isn't every   
night that both your boys and your mother are off on sleepovers, is   
it?"   
  
"Mo-ther!"   
  
"Just being realistic, Amanda." Dotty walked off towards the stairs,   
still looking around her for the mysterious missing object.   
  
Amanda shook her head and sighed, knowing full well that she made an   
excellent point. She wandered over to the bookcase, pulling out a   
large volume that she hadn't read in a long time, and settled down on   
the couch. Within a few minutes she was asleep, worn out from the   
events (though few) of the day so far. She was out cold, and didn't   
even hear the phone ring a couple of minutes later.   
  
Philip picked up the phone, forgetting the hang-ups that they often   
got as he was hoping that a female friend of his would call. It   
wasn't the female he expected it would be, but it certainly was a   
female who was on the other end of the line. A very husky, sexy   
voice asked for his stepfather.  
  
"Lee? No, he's not available. Leave a message?"  
  
"Mm. He's not off sulking somewhere is he?"  
  
"No. He's at work."  
  
"Pity. I was feeling a little lonely and wondered if he wanted to   
come over and play. I'll just call back later." With that, the call   
was disconnected. Philip was feeling a little more than disconnected   
over the phone call. He was respectful of the fact that his   
stepfather truly seemed devoted to his mother; on the other hand, why   
do all these strange women keep calling the house? Rather than try   
to figure it all out in the short amount of time before Lee would be   
home, Philip opted to go play basketball instead.   
  
~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK  
  
Dinner was another quiet affair. Jaime seemed a little tired, and   
said as much. Philip shot dark looks over at Lee most of the night.   
Lee tried to ignore him, hoping that no one would notice the dark   
colored box that he had placed at the bottom of the bookcase and pull   
it open before its time, but that was a challenge in and of itself.   
Dotty was pre-occupied, and Amanda was left to wonder in the silence   
why there was so much of it lately around her once lively table.   
The majority of noise in the house came from the telephone and the   
answering machine, which rang and clicked on fairly regularly until   
Lee got up and unplugged the phone from the wall.   
  
Amanda finished up dinner, and filled the newly repaired   
dishwasher. The boys had already left - Jaime with a promise to   
behave, and Philip without a word to Lee. Dotty was still looking   
around a little bit, but Kurt had just pulled up and they were   
working on getting Dotty's bags into his car. While they were   
moving in and out of the house, Lee had set Amanda up with a glass of   
wine, two candles, and some soft relaxing music in the living room.   
  
"Lee, I know it's harmless, but I just wish that this harassment   
would just stop as quickly as it started. It's un-nerving."   
  
"Tell me about it. You won't even fetch the mail anymore. Women.   
You give them a gun, and they just figure you're their servant." Lee   
looked over at Amanda and winked. He was rewarded with a pillow in   
the face for his efforts. "I'm sorry. Tell you what, you just   
relax here, and I have just the thing to take your mind off the whole   
situation."  
  
"What could you possibl- Ooooohh." Lee had picked up her feet and   
started to massage them gently. They were interrupted for a moment   
by Dotty who stopped to say one last goodnight before heading off   
with Captain Kurt. He waited until he heard the car door slam   
before stopping the massage and getting up from the couch. "Lee,   
where are you going?"  
  
Lee moved over to the bookcase and shifted a couple of things around   
before coming up with the Rebecca's Fantasies box he had hidden   
earlier while Amanda was asleep and the rest of the house was   
otherwise distracted with their evening plans. He opened up an edge   
of the box and pulled out the tasteful, medium length, very lacy   
black silk and satin teddy that had been tucked inside.   
  
Amanda's eyes went as wide as saucers. "WOW. Nice taste."   
  
"Thank you for the lovely present you got me." Lee smiled, holding   
the teddy up by the straps across his index fingers, wiggled it and   
moved closer to Amanda.   
  
"What are you talking about, Lee?" Amanda cocked he head slightly to   
the side. "Didn't you order this for me?"  
  
"No, I thought you ordered it." They both heard the front door   
open and Dotty came back into the house, calling out that she had   
left a book she wanted behind. She walked into the living room, saw   
Lee holding the black teddy and grabs it from him.   
  
"Where did you find this? I've been looking every- oh, never mind.   
Thank you very much for finding it." With that, Dotty turned around   
and left the house. Amanda remained standing, but dropped her head   
down.   
  
"Amanda, um, that was your Mother!"   
  
"Shhh, I know Lee, don't remind me." Amanda pulled her head back up,   
but had shut her eyes and was shaking her head as if to wipe out the   
image that had sprung into her mind.   
  
Lee continued on, ignoring Amanda's comment, almost talking to   
himself. "*That* must have been what she was looking for all this   
time. No wonder she didn't want my help."  
  
"Or anyone else's, for that matter," continued Amanda. "Where did you   
find that, anyway?"  
  
"It was on the table, with the mail a couple of weeks ago. There   
wasn't any wrapping, and it was still sealed. I knew you'd been home   
earlier in the day, and thought you'd gotten it, but hadn't hidden it   
away. So I peeked, and then hid it away upstairs when I heard   
someone come in the house. I thought it was something you'd picked   
up, and I thought I'd use it to my advantage one night." His voice   
dropped in volume slightly. "I guess that's what your mother thought   
too."  
  
"Lee!" Amanda reprimanded him sharply.   
  
"Sorry."   
Lee looked a little sheepish, and placed his hands in his pockets.   
He started to rock back and forth from the balls of his feet to his   
heels and back again, whistling softly and staring up at the   
ceiling.   
  
"What is it, Lee?"  
  
"Well, I was just thinking a cold shower might be in order-"  
  
"Lee! That was my *Mother*!"  
  
Lee stopped rocking and stared at Amanda. "Thank you, Amanda. I was   
just thinking about you in that little piece of lace, but you've   
ruined that image for me now." He sighed, and ran his hand through   
his hair before settling down on the couch. "Now, what do you want   
to do for the rest of the night?"  
  
"Go to bed." Amanda had moved to stand in front of where Lee was   
sitting on the couch.   
  
"It's early, Amanda." Lee looked up to see a very mischevious smile   
on his wife's face.  
  
"I didn't say we were going to sleep." That being said, Amanda   
turned on her heel and headed for the stairs without looking back.   
Lee sat for two seconds longer, and started chasing her up the   
stairs.   
  
  
TBC  
  
  
  



	9. The Next Morning

Title: The Price We Pay  
  
Disclosure: Warner Brothers Television Distribution and Shoot The Moon Productions owns these characters, as well as to the writers, and actors who created and portrayed them. Generous references to the past and the events of the 4th season. I don't make any money off of this - my only reward is my personal satisfaction at having written a decent story (and the story is all mine). Oh, and any new characters that you meet along the way - those are creations from my own twisted imagination, so hands off, unless you ask for permission to play with them.  
  
See Chapter 1 for more information on timing and all that other good stuff...  
  
I apologize for all the delays in getting more parts of this story to you all - and I spent quite a bit of time writing and polishing this holiday weekend - not to tease you, but I have the next 3 parts written... and I'm going to dole them out in pieces (believe me, I need the time to write part 12, 'cuz you're going to hate me if I post 11 and don't have 12 ready quickly after...), but until then, without further ado, here's part 9....  
  
~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK  
  
The morning sunlight streamed into the windows and as the sun slowly shifted, one beam fell directly into Lee's face. He slowly blinked in an attempt to become accustomed to the light, and found that he felt sluggish and unable to move. The primary cause of both of these feelings was fairly obvious after a disoriented second: Amanda had kept him quite awake for most of the night, and the upper half of her body was still lying across his. He attempted to stifle the yawn that was building up, but couldn't; the resulting sound and movement woke Amanda up. "Sorry," he whispered.   
  
Amanda tried to move away, but Lee's arms found their way around her back and kept her in place. "You don't seem *that* sorry," she teased.   
  
"No. Guess not. It's bright in here. What time is it anyway?" Lee lifted his head and turned toward the clock radio. He looked from one side of the bed to the other. It wasn't on either side table. It was on Amanda's side when they had come upstairs; at least he thought it had been. "Amanda, where's the clock?"  
  
"What do you mean, where's the clock?" Amanda sat up, the covers falling away from her. She leaned over Lee to look on the floor on his side of the bed, then away from him to look over the other side. As she sat up and leaned over the other side, Lee sat up as well. "It's here. On the floor." She picked it up from its upside-down position, looked at it, and groaned. The clock had fallen so that it was resting on the snooze button - had they drawn the blinds tightly, they would never have woken up. "It's 8:35, Lee."  
  
Lee leaned his head back towards the headboard. "The staff meeting is at 9. We're never going to make it on time. I'll call Billy-"  
  
"And tell him what?" Amanda sat at the edge of the bed and smiled at her husband, her 'I-have-a-secret-and-you-don't' type of smile. "How our clock ended up being upside-down on the floor next to the bed for the entire night and we didn't notice? And exactly how," at this she arched an eyebrow at him, "are we going to explain how *your* feet knocked the clock off the table?"   
  
"Good point. We'll just 'get stuck in traffic' on our way in. And how are you so sure that it was *my* feet that knocked the clock off the table. It could have been you." Lee got up, and grabbed for his boxers on the floor next to the bed. He dug around and then reached just under the bed and found them before heading into the bathroom. Sitting on the bed, Amanda watched him walk into the bathroom, musing on how attractive he was with and without clothes on.   
  
"Yes, sweetheart, it could have just as easily been me, and how would we explain *that* to Mr. Melrose?"   
  
He partially closed the door after smiling coyly at his wife, and Amanda got up to pull out something to wear for the day ahead. After hearing the toilet flush and the shower come on, Amanda sauntered into the bathroom and firmly shut the door with nothing on but a smile and a greeting: "Hi there, Big Fella…"  
  
The 'traffic' they were to encounter on the way into work had just gotten a little more intense.   
  
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An hour and 15 minutes later they were rushing into the Georgetown foyer to the curious gaze of Mrs. Marsten. "Mr. Melrose is expecting you two, and he's not pleased." She looked over her glasses at Amanda, and then turned to glare at Lee.   
  
"Sorry, traffic," Lee mumbled as he attached his badge.  
  
"Good morning, Mrs. Marsten. It was really, um, complicated trying to get in here today." Amanda smiled as brightly as possible, hoping that the older woman would stop glaring and release the elevator for the underground levels. Her luck held, as she heard the elevator come to the foyer level.   
  
"I'm sure it was, Mrs. King. I'm sure it was." She smiled after the two agents as they got into the elevator. It was a nice embellishment that Amanda had put on the explanation, but it only took one look at Scarecrow and Mrs. King to know what really happened. And from what they looked like, Virginia Marsten would have given anything at that moment to be 25 years younger, and as lucky as Amanda King-Stetson had been that morning.   
  
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All heads turned at the two agents who walked in late. Billy stopped his speech and watched while they took the remaining two seats at the table. "I hate to repeat myself, people, so next time could you try to make it to the meeting on time?"   
  
"Sorry, Billy. We got stuck in traffic. The commute in from Arlington wasn't pretty." Amanda simply nodded her agreement with Lee's comments, as he squeezed her hand under the table.   
  
"I'm sure it was, Scarecrow. Now let's get back to the business at hand…" Billy's voice drifted off into the background as Lee looked at Amanda and recalled moments from the night before, of that morning in the shower, and of staff meetings long ago where she would sit across the table from him, and it would be just sheer torture that he couldn't touch her, couldn't tell her how he was feeling, couldn't tell the world that he loved her. It was very uplifting and freeing to Lee that they didn't have to hide anything from the world anymore. There were, of course, things that put dampers on everything however, and Becca trying to lean against him during the meeting was one of those things. Lee just kept inching forward in his seat until he was practically sitting on Amanda's chair.   
  
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As soon as the meeting had ended, Becca took off out of the conference room as quickly as possible. Lee lingered back for a couple of minutes to avoid the elevator ride up to the Q with Becca, and to have one more cup of coffee with Amanda. They parted ways for the morning with a quick kiss and a promise to have lunch together. He left her at her desk, and made his way out of the bullpen. She sat for a moment before starting in on the files and assorted paperwork that had made it to her desk. A half hour later she had made great progress in the piles, reassigning the administrative works to the steno pool, and the Embassy assignments to the various agents who specialized in those particular countries, when she ran across a plain envelope stamped 'Confidential' and with her name typed across its front. She set it aside for a moment to finish prepping some work that would head for Effram Beeman's latest rookie class, before turning her attention back to it. After a moment of looking at it from all angles, she opened it. It was another of those mysterious letters she had been receiving at home.   
  
'He's a watcher, as we all are, but why would he want to watch you?' Another typewritten taunt. A taunt that confirmed that this had to be originating from someone who worked for The Agency - not only for what it said, but the fact that it was found on her desk. Amanda got up from her desk, with the letter in hand, and walked towards Billy's office, knocked and walked in. As soon as he saw the look on her face, Billy got up and started shutting the blinds that lined his office windows. Amanda moved to sit on the couch and held out the letter for Billy to read, waiting for him to take it before placing her head down on her knees and wrapping her arms around herself.   
  
The next thing she knew, Billy was yelling into the phone at someone - to pull any surveillance tapes that they might have, to put a head on a platter for this abuse, to have Lee get down from the Q right away. He put down the phone softly, realizing that what Amanda has said earlier in the week had to be true - this had to be the work of someone inside The Agency - someone close. 'But who?' he thought, as he beat his fist into his opposite hand. As he placed his hands down at the edge of his desk, supporting him before he leaned against it.  
  
"Amanda, I'm going to recommend that you and Lee pack your things up and work at home. I can get you two all the equipment that you need, and having the two of you together means that I can place a couple of shadows with you." Billy looked down towards Amanda who was nodding into her knees. He wasn't sure, but it seemed that Amanda was shaking slightly. To try and draw Amanda's attention away from what was going on, he decided to ask about manpower. "You know, we should have someone at the house with you who is familiar with the Q and its current caseload. How about Becca?"  
  
Amanda suddenly looked up and straight towards Billy. "No! Not Becca. I've almost cleared my desk down here, and I wasn't really doing anything that important. Lee can get me up to speed on the Q and I can be his assistance at home." Amanda looked up at the blinds as if she could see the bullpen outside. "If it's all right with you, Mr. Melrose, Lee and I can work together again - it'll be in secret, but we'll be together."  
  
"I thought you two didn't want any more secrets," Billy chuckled. "I guess one more won't make a difference. Amanda, why don't you want Becca to come with you?"  
  
"I don't know. There's something about Boo that I don't trust, that can't be trusted. I don't know why, it's just a feeling." Amanda looked up to meet Billy's eyes.   
  
"O.K. No Becca. We'll have to run this past Lee, though, so that you're both all right with your idea that Boo isn't to be trusted?" As Amanda nodded, Billy began to ponder a thought, but didn't have time to finish it as Dr. Smyth walked into the office. Both adults turned at the older man's sharp voice.   
  
"Gee, and I wonder if it's Scarecrow who can really be trusted. Mrs. King - shouldn't that be Mrs. Stetson, Billy?" A puff of smoke came from the ever-present cigarette holder that Smyth always carried. "I heard the end of your conversation and just wondered if we can really trust the Scarecrow?"  
  
Billy was enraged with the older man and his sniping comments. "Smyth! You've never had an agent who has been more loyal than Stetson! I'm surprised he still puts up with you after Stemwinder, and that mess with T.P. Aquinas. You've never had a better agent. If I were he, I would have picked up and left by now. Now, will you stop being a bitter old man, and tell us why you're in my office!"   
  
"I just thought I would stop by and see how things were moving along, but it seems that I've come at a bad time."  
  
"That's not why you're here, is it?" Amanda raised her head, and looked straight at Dr. Smyth. "And you meant every word of what you said about questioning Lee's loyalty to The Agency. You may not like my husband, and you may not like me, but that's no reason to treat us like traitors or suspect us every time you feel like picking on someone." Amanda stopped to take a breath, and a thought struck her. She spoke aloud, without realizing she was doing so. "Makes me wonder if you're responsible for those notes. Then again, that social status of yours would prohibit you from doing anything scandalous."   
  
"You're right on that point, King." Dr. Smyth took another puff on his cigarette, shot a look at Billy and left the office. As he left he brushed back Lee, who was out of breath and looked like he'd run the whole way from the Q Bureau.   
  
The younger agent stopped in his tracks at the sight of his wife, her head slowly lifting from where she had placed it once again on her arms after Smyth left. She looked tired, beaten, and frightened half to death. "It was on my desk, Lee. On my desk." In her voice he could hear the resignation that said she was right about it being someone inside The Agency who was responsible for this harassment, and she wasn't happy at all about being right. She placed her head back on her arms.   
  
"Lee, take Amanda home. And before you give me any reason not to," at this, Billy held up a hand, "you'll have shadows following you, and I can clear you both to work at home. Lee, would you like to have some extra assistance in Arlington?"  
  
Lee was busy crouching down next to Amanda, holding her hands and trying to get her to look him in the eye. She simply stared down at her shoes.   
  
"Lee?" Billy's voice brought him out of his focus on Amanda. "Would you like some help in Arlington?"  
  
"Yeah, sure Billy. Whatever you want." He turned back to Amanda, and Billy knew that Lee's focus was going to be shot for a couple of days.   
  
"Amanda doesn't want Becca to be you shadow, although she's most familiar with your cases."   
  
"Whatever Amanda wants, Billy. Anything." Lee hadn't stopped staring towards Amanda, willing her to look him in the eye.   
  
"Well then, if there's one thing I've learned in the last few years, Amanda-" Lee cut Billy off to finish his sentence.   
  
"-It's to trust *your* instincts, Mrs. King." Lee smiled at Amanda and placed his forehead to hers. "Remember the blue wire," he whispered. Amanda smiled and he pulled her into a hug. A thought struck him, and he looked back at Billy. "What did the old man want, Billy?"  
  
"Nothing."  
  
"Nothing but your head on a platter again." Amanda turned her head and focused back on her husband. "He was in here asking if we could trust you."  
  
Lee turned away, a look of disgust on his face. As he looked to Amanda, he buried his head into the curve of her neck, and she started whispering into his ear to not listen to Smyth, the man was all smoke and no substance. Billy suspected that the words were as much for her as they were for Lee. Lee sighed loudly as he shifted his weight back onto the couch, Amanda leaning into his shoulder as he did so. "Billy, will he ever let up?"  
  
Billy shook his head. "Not likely. Not until they pry that cigarette holder from his cold, dead hands."  
  
Lee chuckled; Amanda held back a smile as much as possible. "I don't understand it, Mr. Melrose. I know that I didn't come into The Agency in the most conventional of means, but is this the price I have to pay?"  
  
"The price we pay, Amanda." Lee placed a finger under her chin and turned her head so that she was looking straight at him. "Me? I pay for recruiting you, the humble housewife, and you pay for sticking around, and we pay for getting involved with each other. It's really my fault."  
  
"No, Lee, it's not. It's my tail too."  
  
"Stop it, both of you! It's as much my fault as it is Lee's. I kept bringing Amanda in to work with you, Lee; she was good for you. She *is* good for you. Now go home, and don't worry about anything." Billy smiled down at his two agents.   
  
They looked at each other and nodded. Amanda spoke softly to Lee, "Yeah, it's his fault we're together." The two agents chuckled softly at her statement, and Billy nodded, trying not to laugh.   
  
"Billy, Becca's got the Q handled, but I want you to keep an eye on her. She files things so that I can't find them anymore, and some of the ways she's doing this don't make any sense."  
  
"No problem, Lee. I'll send Francine up there later to 'drop in and say hi'. Now go home!"  
  
Lee helped Amanda up, and placed his hand on her elbow to guide her out of the office. Billy followed them and watched them walk out of the bullpen. As they progressed towards the doors, so did their movements toward each other. Lee's arm had moved to wrap around Amanda's waist, and her head was resting on his shoulder as they slowly walked away. Billy closed his office door and leaned against it. 'Why does life have to be so hard for these two?' Knowing that the question wouldn't be easily answered that moment, he sat down at his desk and started reviewing the latest version of the morning news before calling Francine into his office.   
  
TBC  



	10. Privacy Issues

Title: The Price We Pay  
  
Disclosure: Warner Brothers Television Distribution and Shoot The Moon Productions owns these characters, as well as to the writers, and actors who created and portrayed them. Generous references to the past and the events of the 4th season… I don't make any money off of this – my only reward is my personal satisfaction at having written a decent story (and the story is all mine). Oh, and any new characters that you meet along the way - those are creations from my own twisted imagination, so hands off, unless you ask for permission to play with them.  
  
See Chapter 1 for more information on timing and all that other good   
stuff...  
  
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Meanwhile, up in the Q, Becca Dobson sat staring out the window, watching the sleek silver Corvette pull out of the adjacent driveway and head down the street. Lee had gotten a phone call a few minutes earlier and had run out of there like greased lightening without a word to Becca. She had been working in the vault and trying to figure out the best way to get the door locked and her dress undone in as quickly a manner as possible. Lee had been looking through his desk for something, and then disappeared as soon as he'd put down the phone, just as Becca had almost figured it all out.   
  
And he'd left his desk unlocked. The desk, that for some unknown reason, she had been unable to pick open.   
  
'Opportunity is pounding on the glass door,' Becca thought to herself, and headed over to the desk. She pawed through a couple of the top drawers reading everything she came across carefully so that the desk wouldn't look too trashed – she found incomplete paperwork, scraps of notes, reminders to pick something up from one place or another, pictures of Amanda and the boys. Upon seeing these, Becca let out a frustrated sigh. "How utterly domestic of you, Scarecrow, now when are you going to get your head out of your OZ and come back to reality?" She giggled at the joke she had made out loud, instantly grateful that no one else was around to hear it. She put them all back and started making her way through the heavy lower file drawer.   
  
Fifteen minutes later, she'd gone through all the files in the drawer, and realized that there wasn't enough there to justify the weight. She struggled to pull the drawer out a little further and found a metal strongbox. She tilted her head slightly, and spoke softly.   
  
"Well, well, well, Lee… what do we have hidden away in here? And does your dear Amanda know this box exists?" She stood up to pull the heavy box out of the drawer and placed it on top of Lee's desk. There was nothing on the outside of the box to indicate what it might be, and from the size of the box it was clear that files weren't kept inside unless they were folded in half. But that still wouldn't justify the weight.   
  
Becca reached over and snagged her purse to pull out a little leather wallet. The tools inside were standard issue and had proven themselves invaluable to Becca in other situations. This, she assumed, would be no different. She selected a diamond cut half-rake and went to work on the lock. Just as she started to realize that the tool she had wouldn't quite cut it, or the lock was better than she thought, the door to the Q opened and Francine walked in.   
  
"Becca, Billy wanted- just what do you think you're doing?" Francine looked around Becca and could see that the other woman had been busy rifling through her friend's desk. And immediately looked both guilty and nervous about it. "Becca, did you pull that from Lee's desk?"  
  
"Francine… I, ah, well…" Words failed Becca at that moment, and she knew that any excuse she came up with wouldn't adequately explain what she was doing. "I found it in Lee's desk, and it didn't have any markings. I thought it might be related to something we're working on."   
  
"Becca, I've known you way too long. What case could it possibly be related to, what's in the box, and why isn't it with the evidence guys?"   
  
"I, um, don't know." Becca's eyes were darting around the room, settling anywhere but on an even level with her friend.   
  
"That's Lee's personal strongbox, isn't it?" Francine stood there, arms crossed and looking down at Becca as she stood before the desk. Becca slowly stood up and tucked the half-rake back into her wallet.   
  
"Probably. What are you doing up here, anyway?"  
  
"Billy wanted me to give you a hand with the files. Becca, if Lee caught you with that box you'd be toast right now." Francine realized she had said the wrong thing, and the other woman's eyes brightened with interest as they moved from her friend towards the box and back again.   
  
"Why? What's in there?" Becca put her palms down on the box and leaned forward towards Francine. "Come on, Francie, I won't tell."  
  
"I don't know what's in there, Boo, and I don't want to know. All I know is that Lee guards his privacy and his property and that private property box obviously belongs to him. Now put it back," Francine pointed at the box, "and let's get back to work." Francine waited while the other woman put the strongbox back into the drawer it had come from. She realized that she couldn't leave Becca alone in the Q until someone had either come up and changed the locks or told Lee what had happened so that he could finish locking up his own desk. Francine didn't relish the thought of either, but decided that, for now, a change of locks would be less painful on her ears.   
  
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As they wound their way through the streets of the District, Lee couldn't help but notice that Amanda was shaking. She had kept her arms crossed and her hands were lightly rubbing her upper arms as if she was cold. Lee started to speak several times, but couldn't think of anything to say. He finally decided that work would be the best topic to try and get this all off of Amanda's mind. "You know, Billy's going to recheck backgrounds, and clearances…" he let his voice trail off as he realized that the topic he had brought up was the exact reason they were leaving the office in the middle of the day. He wasn't sure what else to do, and closed his eyes for a moment as they were stopped in a long line of cars at a notoriously long stoplight.   
  
"Amanda," he began, "In all of this, have I ever told you what a great agent I think you are?" He opened one eye to peek over to where she was sitting. She was perfectly still, and then turned her head to look at him instead of out the windshield as she had been since they'd left The Agency. He quickly shut his eye, but knew she had caught him peeking. He could almost feel the smile that was on her face at the compliment. The sound of a horn behind him had him open his eyes and focus on traffic again.   
  
"You are, you know. You're great. At Station One, you were fantastic. Both times! I just didn't know what to say, I… All those times that I put you down, or didn't give you the credit you deserved – I never meant to hurt your feelings… I just didn't know how you'd take the compliment." Lee snuck a glance over at Amanda, who had turned her head to watch him while he spoke.   
  
"You thought I would fall at your feet in hero-worship, right?" Amanda turned her body slightly to match the angle at which her head was turned.   
  
"Right! Wrong! No. I just didn't know how to tell you that you were doing a fantastic job without showing how much I felt about you."  
  
"Awww, that's ok, Lee."  
  
"No, Amanda, it's not. You never deserved that kind of treatment – not from me or anyone else. You deserve all the compliments that you earn for the hard work you do. You deserve the fairy tale storybook ending, but we seemed to have taken the long way around to that."  
  
"Yes, we have. But I just wonder…" her voice trailed off, and she shifted in her seat again, this time to look out the passenger side window.  
  
"What do you wonder?"  
  
"Well, everyone keeps putting expectations on us. That we won't make it, that we're doomed to failure. That you're going to wander off-"   
  
Lee was instantly angry at where Amanda's line of thought was going, and it showed when he cut her off "Amanda, you make it sound like I'm three years old, and going to wander off in the grocery store. Do you really think we're going to fail, or are you just comparing me to Joe?" As he spoke, he moved the car into a turnout, and shut off the ignition. Lee had had enough of this, and it was going to end now, and end there. "Amanda! You are usually so sure of yourself when it comes to emotions and how to handle them – what has gotten you so spooked now? Why have you been questioning us? I'm not about to leave you. I don't want to leave you. I've been looking for something that has been out of my reach for my entire life. I don't know, and I don't care if it's been out of reach by fate's design or because I wouldn't let whatever it was hit me in the head to come to my senses. And then I met you, and started working with you, and became friends with you. I didn't know what I was looking for my whole life until I fell in love with you." Lee stopped for a moment to reach across Amanda and pull a tissue out of the glove box and hand it to her. She accepted it, and wiped her face, letting her hands fall loosely back into her lap when she was done. Lee reached over with his index finger and raised her chin up for her to look at him. Tears still ran freely down her face. "I'm not Joe. I'm not the Lee Stetson you met in that train station who didn't need anyone. I'm not about to walk away on the best thing that's ever happened to me. Do you understand that? Why is it when things get a little rough for us, you want out? We've worked so hard to get to this point. I denied my feelings for so long, and I know I frustrated you over the whole situation for a long time, and now that we're here, one little crisis and you sound like you want to throw all of this away? What are you scared of? I'm not going to abandon you." Lee dropped his finger from her chin, and used it to wipe away a tear that was rolling down Amanda's face.   
  
Amanda simply looked at him, and scrubbed her face one more time with the already soaking wet tissue. "I love you, Lee. I know you're not going to leave, but-"  
  
"No buts." He said this as she was continuing on through her statement.  
  
"-all these notes, and the phone calls, and we're not working together anymore. I think it's all finally getting to me."   
  
A thought popped up in Lee's mind about how Amanda wasn't handling all of these things all at once – this, a woman who was a single mom, a PTA member, a den mother and intelligence operative all rolled into one. "Amanda, have you been blowing off appointments with Pfaff?"  
  
"You mean, like you do?" She smiled through the tears at her husband and the look on his face that she knew about all the times he had ducked The Agency psychoanalyst.   
  
"Ok, you got me. Fair enough. And I know I shouldn't throw your own words back at you, but you should go see him. See if there's anything that you need to talk out. Amanda, he's there to help you."  
  
"And so are you. I won't miss my next appointment. I promise." She turned to pop open the glove box and get another tissue to blow her nose. "Let's go home before the agents who are trailing us think that we've pulled over for a quickie." She leaned forward to place a light kiss on Lee's lips, and another on his cheek.   
  
Lee laughed and started the ignition, firmly believing that everything was going to be all right.   
  
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The house was amazingly quiet and cool for the middle of the day in the middle of the summer. Lee and Amanda watched while their newly appointed shadows found a nice place in the shade across the street from where they could watch the house. As the day wound down, Philip and Jaime came in and packed up their things to head over to their father's house for a couple of weeks worth of parent/child bonding. Neither boy was really looking forward to it, but Jaime was the only one who would open up and talk to Lee about it. When his mother was cleaning up the coffee cups they had had out earlier in the day while they worked in the living room, Jaime pulled Lee aside and had asked him if he'd be around in case Joe decided to start working on their vacation.   
  
"Why do you ask, Jaime?" Lee furrowed his brow at the question his younger stepson had asked of him.  
  
"Well, if Dad isn't around, maybe you could come pick us up and we could all spend some time together." Jaime looked up hopefully at his stepfather.   
  
"Jaime, I'd love to spend some summer time with you, but this is supposed to be your time with your Dad, and I don't want to intrude on it. I'd only step in if your Mom said it was OK or felt like you were being neglected. Give it a try, sport, and I think your Dad might surprise you." Lee patted Jaime's shoulder, as the boy looked down at his shoes.   
  
Philip, walking by at that moment, shot an angry look towards Lee, and jostled Jaime's other shoulder with his own, and shot a comment backwards over his shoulder. "See, doofus? Told you he wouldn't want us around."   
  
"Philip! Don't call your brother names! And come back here when I'm talking to you!" Jaime sat down on a nearby chair, while Lee stood at the bottom of the stairs staring back at his older stepson's retreating back.   
  
"Spoken like a true parent." Amanda came from around the corner, and headed for Jaime. She squatted down next to the chair he was sitting in, and took his hands gently. "Jaime, honey, Lee's right. You have to spend some time with your father, and we don't want him to feel like Lee's trying to steal more time with you when he already lives here and sees you every day. You have to spend some time with your father whether you like it or not. And-" she held up a hand before Jaime could speak the words that he had opened his mouth for. "-whatever Philip said doesn't matter. He's just being a pain." Jaime smiled, surprised, at his mother's comment.   
  
"Don't tell him she said that," Lee said in a conspiring tone of voice. "We don't want Philip to think we're ganging up against him."  
  
"He already thinks that, Lee." Jaime pushed the bridge of his glasses further back up the bridge of his nose as he looked up at the older man. "I don't know why, but for some reason, Philip thinks you're out to get rid of the two of us. We're spending more and more time with Dad, and something doesn't feel right." He turned to look at his mother. "Why *are* we spending more time with Dad this summer?"  
  
"Well, honey, Lee and I need to do some work at home for the next couple of weeks, and your Dad's been feeling a little, um-" Amanda looked to Lee for help.   
  
"Hey, sport, your Dad's feeling like I might try and replace him, so he asked your Mom if he could spend a little more time with the two of you." Amanda smiled up at him, knowing that that was only a half-truth, but one that her son would accept after everything that had happened in the last couple of months.  
  
"But Lee couldn't replace Dad! They're not interchangeable!"  
  
"I know that, sweetheart, but sometimes adults lose sight of what's going on around them, and you kids help keep us in line. And I think your Dad would really appreciate the extra time he gets to spend with you and Philip this summer. So you'd better get packing."   
  
Jaime nodded. "Thanks, Mom. Thanks, Lee. I'll see if I can get Philip to lighten up a little too. I know he's been giving Lee a hard time, and I don't know why, either."   
  
"Well, we'll just have to talk to your brother too, later, and find out what's bothering him. Now, scoot." Amanda hugged her son and then pushed him towards the stairs so that he could get packed up for the next couple of weeks.   
  
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After Joe left with the boys, Lee and Amanda had a light dinner and watched a movie. They had started out cuddling together, but had moved apart because of the sticky heat that had settled on the evening. Near the end of the movie, Amanda brewed a little iced tea, and brought a thermos full to the agents sitting outside the house, wishing them a goodnight and letting them know that the windows at the front of the house would remain open for the night to let some cool air in. She headed back inside the house, and she and Lee went to bed.   
  
After she had left, one of the two agents turned to the other. "Mrs. King is sure one heck of a lady. How many others of our assignments make things this easy for us?"  
  
"True, Stetson couldn't have done better than her." The two agents were relatively close in age, one being only a year older than the other, but with much more field experience, and had had the privilege of working with Scarecrow in the past. He'd known him for many years, and had watched the transformation that had taken place in the man when the housewife entered his life and turned it upside-down – for the better.   
  
"Why do you say that, Stevens? I'm amazed that he's even with her." The younger agent, Russell Lynne, had admired Lee Stetson's old reputation for a ladies' man and wasn't doing too badly himself making his way through the steno pool, but at a much slower burn rate than Lee had years earlier. "This is a guy who could have any woman he wanted. And has."  
  
"Don't be so surprised, they certainly don't surprise me. Stetson just needed the right woman to settle down with, and Amanda King came along at the right time, with all the patience he needed. Those bimbos in the steno pool didn't have anything to offer." Jack Stevens reserved the rest of his comments to himself about how Lynne wouldn't find paradise anywhere but by the dashboard light with one of those twits he was currently dating.   
  
"Yeah, sure. And pigs are flying over the Capital as we speak."  
  
"Go ahead and laugh, Lynne, that's one partnership that's going to last until they're old and gray and can't walk anymore. Stetson's as loyal as this summer day is long, and he's obviously hooked. Didn't you notice him sitting at the window while she brought the iced tea out? He's not about to let something happen to her."   
  
"That's fine by me. It leaves Becca Dobson for the rest of us." The younger man smiled and wiggled his eyebrows at the thought of the dark-haired, blue-eyed beauty that had returned to The Agency. "Although I hear she's still got something for Stetson."  
  
"Hope that wears off. Mrs. King can outclass her any day, and she doesn't deserve that kind of trouble." 'No one does,' Stevens thought to himself.   
  
"Then again," the younger agent continued as if his partner hadn't spoken, "what woman doesn't still have a thing for Stetson." He settled back into his seat for the night, thinking about the pretty blond in ciphers whom he was seeing and who was constantly comparing him to Stetson. He briefly wished that he had just one of the pages of those fabled black books of Stetson's, but shook that thought out of his head. 'The rest of the women would probably keep comparing him to me, too.'  
  



	11. To Dream of Sheep

Title: The Price We Pay  
  
Disclosure: Warner Brothers Television Distribution and Shoot The Moon Productions owns these characters, as well as to the writers, and actors who created and portrayed them. Generous references to the past and the events of the 4th season… I don't make any money off of this – my only reward is my personal satisfaction at having written a decent story (and the story is all mine). Oh, and any new characters that you meet along the way - those are creations from my own twisted imagination, so hands off, unless you ask for permission to play with them.  
  
See Chapter 1 for more information on timing and all that other good stuff...  
  
~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK  
  
Late into the night, after the breezes cooled down the house, and the married agents had sleepily pulled a comforter over themselves without waking up, Amanda found herself back in the warehouse, with no control over what was happening around her.   
  
She sat straight up out of the nightmare, a cold sweat beading on her skin, and a loud 'NO!' dying at her lips. She turned and grabbed onto Lee, who had just sat up at the noise and movement, as if her life depended on it. She pushed her head into his shoulder, and started rubbing her forehead into his neck.   
  
"Shhhh. Shhh, Amanda. It's all right. I'm right here. Shhhh." Lee was awake enough now to realize that his wife had had yet another nightmare, and was rubbing his hand over her hair, with his other arm held firmly against her back, holding her to him. "Shhhhh. Amanda, talk to me."  
  
She slowly lifted her head and looked her husband in the eye by the light of the moon streaming into the room. "The dream was different this time. It changed. I couldn't do anything. I didn't work fast enough. I'm so sorry." Tears started to fall down her cheeks, and she wiped them away with the heels of her hands.   
  
"Shhh. Stop, Amanda." Lee turned towards the bed table and turned on the light. "What happened?" He reached his arms out towards his wife, and she settled into them, laying her head on his chest, curling into him as if she were a child.   
  
"I couldn't react in time."  
  
"You were back in the warehouse." She nodded her head into his chest. "What happened, Amanda? This was just a dream; I'm OK, you're OK. We're here together in Arlington and no one has any injuries." Lee leaned his head down and kissed her on the top of hers.   
  
"I couldn't react in time. I couldn't get my gun up. You took the bullet this time, and you died, while I was holding you. It's my fault." She started sobbing again into Lee's chest. He shifted position, and she moved away slightly. It was just enough for him to grab her shoulders and pull her up to look at him.   
  
"We're fine. I'm alive. This isn't a dream. These nightmares have gotten worse since you went back to work, haven't they?" She nodded. "You're going to see Pfaff in the morning, got it?" Again, she nodded. "No ducking out, hear me? I'm going to call Billy and make sure you're there. I'll recommend that he suspend you if you don't show up. And he'll back me up on it, too."  
  
Amanda looked at Lee as if she thought he was kidding, and then changed her mind. "You're serious, aren't you? You're going to check up on me? You'd have me suspended?"  
  
"You'd do the same to me, Amanda Stetson. In fact, if I recall correctly, there was a time that you did check up on me. And Billy almost *did* suspend me for not seeing Pfaff. You have no excuses now – we're both re-instated, so it should be easier to get in to see Pfaff. No armed escorts, no explaining things over and over again." Lee thought briefly about Billy's orders to stay away from The Agency for a little while, giving them time to relax and figure out who was harassing Amanda with those notes, but figured there had to be a way around that and help Amanda.   
  
Amanda nodded and let herself be pulled into Lee's arms again. He cuddled her against him until they both fell asleep.   
  
The next morning, while Amanda was in the shower, Lee quietly called Billy to insist on her seeing Pfaff. Billy assured him that it wouldn't be an issue. Because of the decision to have them work at home for a while, Pfaff would be coming to them.   
  
~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK   
  
While Amanda was falling asleep in her husband's arms, and two agents were being relieved in the middle of the night by two more outside a white house in Arlington, a piece of paper was being rolled into an old Royal typewriter somewhere in D.C. The lady at the keys stopped, looked out the window into the night and thought about what she needed to write before a wicked smile spread across her pretty features and she put cotton gloved pressure to the keys.  
  
She thought about the cotton gloves she was wearing – not very old, but well worn, and perfectly suited to their purpose. They're the type of gloves a lady would wear to bed at night after applying lotion or moisturizer to her hands. This keeps the lotion from getting on the bedclothes, and keeps the moisture on the lady's hands to keep them looking young and unwrinkled. It is in this way that they won't get dry and cracked and old looking before their time. Anyone can tell age from the hands, and the younger they look, the less likely that anyone would guess the lady's age. No matter how young or old she may be.   
  
They're also fantastic for not shedding any lint off in unnecessary places.   
  
After a couple of moments and a few keys pressed, she pulled the paper out of the rollers, laughing at her genius. Slowly she read it, once, twice, a third time before folding it in thirds and placing it in a white business size envelope.   
  
Her cotton gloves wouldn't leave a print anywhere she didn't need them too – not on the typewriter, not on the desk.   
  
Her cotton gloves won't leave a print on the paper, and they keep the lotion residue from smearing the newly typewritten words.   
  
Her cotton gloves won't leave a smell or a fiber on the envelope she used to contain the envelope.   
  
Those cotton gloves only get a little wet as she used a sponge to moisten the stamp for the front and the back flap of the envelope to seal it shut.   
  
Those dainty cotton gloves place the letter aside to be hand-delivered by a special courier who will arrive just before dawn, at another location, no questions asked, and when that's done, the lady slowly stripped the gloves off, one finger at a time.   
  
The letter is short, simple and to the point. It should have the intended recipient in tears and riddled with doubts almost immediately. The thought of this made the lady laugh with an almost hysterical quality to it. And as she laughed, she managed to speak the words that she had just typed out…   
  
"Lee Stetson, Jr. wants his daddy."  
  
~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK   
  
Amanda picked up the heavy crystal vase her aunt Lillian had given her last Easter and heaved it across the room. Luckily, the weight prevented it from staying aloft for too long, and it broke in large pieces on the carpet, instead of shattering against the wall, which was Amanda's goal. This frustrated her almost immediately, and she started looking around for something else. Lee was frantically trying to get her to calm down, and jumped over the couch before she could reach their wedding picture in the crystal frame that Dotty had placed it in when Lee moved in.   
  
He got to it in time, and moved out of Amanda's way. 'At least she isn't aiming at me,' he thought to himself, just seconds before ducking out of the way of a china collector's plate Amanda had had on the mantle next to the photo. The latest letter had come via special delivery, paid in cash according to the receipt, and was crumpled up in a corner of the room.   
  
"Amanda, this person is obviously lying. They're unhinged. They're trying to get a rise out of you." Lee was hoping that his words would get through her anger. His voice kept rising with each sentence, too. He wanted to get his hands on whoever had the sick mind that was bent on tormenting his wife. And more than anything in the world, Lee would love to have a child, but it wasn't realistic in the jobs that he and Amanda had. And he couldn't imagine having a child with any of the women that he had bedded in the past – the only he wanted to have was one with Amanda. "Who says they're being truthful, Amanda, they've lied so far." 'At least I hope so,' he thought to himself.  
  
This statement seemed to break through the uncharacteristic display of anger Amanda was displaying. She stopped and looked at Lee as if he'd materialized out of nowhere. She immediately sat down on the couch and looked up at Lee. "You're right. You're absolutely right. I've been so dumb. Why have I been doubting you?" She said this last statement almost to herself.   
  
Lee spoke softly, "I've been asking myself the same question, Amanda. Why *have* you been doubting me?"  
  
"I don't know. I don't understand it myself." Amanda looked up at him, almost childlike in her confusion.   
  
"Amanda, when no one else supported me, you were always there. What's happening here?"  
  
"I don't know. You're right. I've always believed in you before, no matter how unbelievable the odds. Why stop now?" Amanda smiled back up at her husband, and reached her hand out for him to hold. She pulled him down to the couch next to her and pulled him into a strong hug. Lee almost felt like Amanda was hanging on to him so that she wouldn't drown.   
  
"Exactly, why stop now." He emphasized the last three words with slight pauses between them. "Come on, Pfaff will be here soon." Amanda looked up at him in surprise as he held his hand out to her. "I called Billy this morning to set up an appointment, and he said he'd send Pfaff to us, as often as you need for as long as we're working at home."   
  
~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK   
  
Becca Dobson stood naked before her full-length mirror, admiring her body not for the first time. She reached over to grab the blue sheath of fabric hanging from the edge of the closet door, and slowly slipped it on. She slowly buttoned up the front, leaving a button open to give a tantalizing view of cleavage to anyone who was interested enough to look. The way the material clung to her body spoke volumes; sins that had not yet been thought of could be committed by the promise held in that dress.   
  
She finished touching up her makeup one last time, and smoothed her hands down the sides of the silky royal blue fabric. She shivered slightly as her hands came back up and rested lightly across her breasts. The blue was just the right color to bring out her eyes, and make them even more outstanding; she agreed with the vision in the mirror that looked back at her.   
  
The dress she wore was lightly lined just enough to wear to work without undergarments, and sexy enough for the activities the night brought. She loved the way the dress felt, silky and warm, holding her as if a lover would. She loved the dress even more when the right hands were unbuttoning the front to release her from its firm hold. 'There's no one person who could resist me in blue. And today will be no different.'  
  
She headed downstairs to get her car for the ride over to The Agency, and the morning staff meeting. When she arrived, every eye was on her, male and female. The men were definitely taking notes and appreciation of her appearance this morning; the women wondered why she even bothered getting dressed to come to work – her reputation as a tramp had preceded her. She walked into the staff meeting a scant two minutes late, and turned a bright smile towards Billy. He just kept going despite the interruption and had no harsh words this morning for the late agent. He seemed more tired than usual, almost defeated, and Becca guessed that that was why he hadn't snapped at her for being late.  
  
As she looked around the table, at the other agents with her, she realized that two seats were empty. 'No Amanda today,' she mused, 'no Lee either.' The thought that Lee was absent bothered Becca slightly, and she scowled without realizing she was doing it. Francine looked across the table at her, and Billy derailed her train of thought by asking what her thoughts were. She passed on commenting; saying simply that it was nothing and for him to continue. 'Good thing, too, considering I had no idea what he was talking about,' she thought to herself, careful to not let her feelings show on her face.  
  
When Billy dismissed the meeting, Francine quickly caught up with her old friend. "Just where do you think *you're* going, Dobson?"   
  
"Just upstairs to do my job, Desmond. What's the problem?" Becca looked her right back in the eye.   
  
"I'm surprised Billy didn't dress you down in that meeting, although you did a pretty good job of that yourself. What's with the outfit?"  
  
"What's wrong with it?" Becca batted her eyelashes coyly at her friend, knowing that it wouldn't work.  
  
"Oh, just that a blind man could tell that you aren't wearing anything underneath it. What's the occasion, Becca? You haven't dressed like that since you the last time you were stalking a new conquest." Francine looked suspiciously at her friend. She remembered that the last conquest she had been after was now happily married to his partner, and not happy at all with the way Becca was acting around him.   
  
"No, of course I haven't. I've been in a god-forsaken nowhere desert halfway across the world where dressing like this would have gotten me raped and killed if I was lucky. Now I can relax and be myself. You've known me for years and years; you know this is the way I am. Come on, Francine, lay off. I just want to cut loose a little, get back to having some fun."  
  
"Desmond! My office! NOW!" Billy's voice boomed out of the bullpen, and into the hallway where the two women had finally made their way. The guards at the entrance of the bullpen were still standing professionally, but their eyes were clearly focused on Becca's chest, and the outline of what could be a dress seam or could be a nipple that was clearly defined in the blue silk.   
  
"We're not done with this, Becca. I've got to go. I'll see you in the Q shortly." Francine turned back into the bullpen, and addressed the guards. "Eyes forward, men." They both straightened up a little more, and refocused straight ahead, after hearing the blond woman's command.   
  
Becca didn't consider their attention being re-diverted to be much of a loss, and decided to take a little walk to occupy her time before heading into the Q. She hadn't seen an old friend of hers from the society pages in a while, and she figured that he might be a little surprised and pleased at her appearance today. She started to whistle a little tune while standing, contemplating her plans, and then started heading off.   
  
One of the guards quietly commented to the other, while still keeping his eyes forward, "Did I just hear her start whistling 'Mary Had a Little Lamb'?"  
  
"No, moron," his companion replied. "She was whistling 'Baa Baa Black Sheep'."   



	12. Baa Baa Black Sheep

Title: The Price We Pay   
  
Disclosure: Warner Brothers Television Distribution and Shoot The Moon Productions owns these characters, as well as to the writers, and actors who created and portrayed them. Generous references to the past and the events of the 4th season… I don't make any money off of this - my only reward is my personal satisfaction at having written a decent story (and the story is all mine). Oh, and any new characters that you meet along the way - those are creations from my own twisted imagination, so hands off, unless you ask for permission to play with them.   
  
See Chapter 1 for more information on timing and all that other good stuff...   
  
~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK   
  
She strolled past the receptionist's desk and held up her hand before the woman could speak. "I don't need an appointment, and I was never here," she stated in a cold and commanding voice. She placed her hand on the doorknob to the inner office and looked over her shoulder at the woman. "Comprende, madam?" The older woman simply looked at her and nodded, shocked at how similar she sounded as compared to the powerful man behind that thick oak door.   
  
Becca opened the door, and could see the massive black leather chair turned so that the back was facing her. The only indication that someone was sitting in it was the plume of smoke that rose above the top of the chair. She closed the door behind her, and headed for one of the chairs on her side of the desk. She sat and waited, staring at the same map that the office's occupant was staring at, decorated with the multiple colored flags that indicated quiet missions, large operations, and sites where agents had lost their lives. A small crystal candy jar sat on the large and well-polished mahogany desk with more flags to be added as needed.   
  
Others who had sat in this office under similar circumstances would have been sweating the minute they walked in, and chattering just to have some noise. The room felt like a massive library: quiet, filled with secrets and lies. She continued to watch the smoke rise from the chair and relaxed in her chair, and ran her hand lazily along its arm. She had no inclination to speak, knowing that her superior would turn around in time, and preferring to wait. She knew that he was waiting for her to make the first move.   
  
She had made a mistake only once with him, early on. She had come into the office, and waited while he reviewed paperwork on his desk. After 15 minutes she got impatient, stood up and dropped her dress off. She had pulled herself slowly and, she thought, rather seductively back into the chair. Without looking up from his work he had ordered that she put her dress back on, or to go walk the District looking for a customer. She quickly dressed, and vowed never to go that route again with this man.   
  
Dr. Smyth had heard Boo's voice in the outer office and hadn't moved from his mental review of operations. He knew that as she sat down in her favorite leather chair that she could sit there as long as necessary. She had come in once, and waited in that chair while he had left the office for 3 hours just so that she could make her point. The old man had the need to tap out his cigarette, and finally turned around to access the crystal ashtray - the match to the candy jar that held his multicolored flag pins.   
  
"Well, well, little sheep, have you any wool?"   
  
"Cut the rhymes, Austin. I'm not one of your little freshman flunkies and we both know it. Tell me how ironclad Amanda King's reinstatement is?" Becca sat with her arms crossed under her breasts; an automatic gesture for her, but one that wouldn't work for her in the current situation.   
  
"Cut out the pouting ingénue act, Becca. It doesn't work with me. And wear undergarments to work, please. That just isn't sanitary." He tapped his cigarette holder against the ashtray again, raising an arched eyebrow back at the agent sitting in the visitor's chair.   
  
Becca straightened up under his scrutiny, and moved her arms up across her breasts. Partly to satisfy Smyth's request, and partly because she suddenly felt like an uncomfortable teen that had just discovered she was the only girl in the class with a chest. "You didn't answer my question, Austin."   
  
"I'm very aware of what I didn't do, Becca. The Stetson woman's re-instatement is as ironclad as they come, the Commander-in-Chief signed it himself. Nothing I can do about it, whether anyone likes it or not." He noticed Becca's discomfort at hearing the phrase 'Stetson' associated with Amanda King, and kept on with his statements, knowing he would get the upper hand. He also realized that by bringing Dobson back in for this purpose from the field had been a tactical error. "She's also officially Scarecrow's partner again, so you'd better look to clear out that little love nest that you were hoping to build in the Q with Stetson. I hear love birds mate for life, and Stetson finally found his." He puffed again lightly on his cigarette, hoping that the stub would last until she left his office. He never changed it in front of other individuals, as that would make him seem more common, more on their level. And everyone knew that Austin Smyth was *not* only everyone else's level.   
  
"Austin," Becca purred, "I'm sure there's something we can do to help my situation along, isn't there?" She leaned forward. This woman was willing to risk everything to try and get her way this time.   
  
"Dobson, get out of here. There's nothing I can do to help you. Cut your losses and get a new caseload from Billy." Knowing that she would get the message, Smyth turned his chair back to the world operations map he maintained in his office. After a couple of minutes, he heard the woman get up and walk out, shutting the door none-too-softly behind her. He reached into the credenza in front of him and pulled out a fresh cigarette for his holder, and lit it, puffing away as he shook his head.   
  
Women like Rebecca Dobson were the problem with agent relationships. Dressing and acting like that just distracts distracted from the mission at hand. 'Just like her mother,' Smyth thought to himself, while a small smile brushed across his face before vanishing, 'and if I had been smarter, *I* wouldn't have gotten distracted by her either.'   
  
On the other side of the coin were female agents like Amanda King-Stetson: perfect spouse material. Smart and logical enough to be invaluable in the field, and the right woman to make critical agents go soft. Just like Scarecrow. He hadn't thought that his perennial lone-wolf agent would disappoint him by settling down, but stranger things had happened in this business. He was not going to succeed in breaking that partnership up - not from a professional or personal angle, but it had been worth a try. Again, he thought of Becca, and how big a mistake it was that he had brought her back in from that long and isolated assignment in the desert. The time away hadn't changed her, although it had been good for Stetson to get his mind back on his work. Then Amanda King had to be in a train station at just the right time, and throw everything back into flux. Smyth wondered how he was going to get Stetson focused back on more critical assignments.   
  
Attempting to send him out of the country on contact zero wasn't going to go over well, and he wondered if he should push his luck. Something like that could send Scarecrow packing. He sighed and looked back over the operations map. Scarecrow had definitely been playing it safe since he married, and that wasn't the type of agent Smyth needed. Still, he and the housewife had the best solve rate in The Agency, and they had allies in royalty and government around the world. As he puffed away, he thought about whether or not that was enough to compensate for Stetson's new lifestyle.   
  
  
Meanwhile, Lee found himself wearing a hole in the floor outside the Behavioral Analysis unit in the lower levels of The Agency. As he made what had to be his seventeenth journey across the hall, he bumped into someone, not watching where he was going. "Francine, I'm sorry." He had grabbed her arms to keep her from falling before realizing who it was.   
  
"Lee? I thought you and Amanda were going to be working at home?" Francine's forehead furrowed, trying to recall what Billy had said about the two agents.   
  
"Yes, we were, and Pfaff was supposed to come to the house to talk to Amanda, but he decided that it would be easier and more secure if she came here."   
  
"Secure?"   
  
"Yeah, meaning that I wouldn't hanging around a corner or a window listening in while my *partner*," this he emphasized by yelling the word at the door of the Behavioral Analysis offices, "sits in there and recalls how our job went south and how *I* almost died. And she's been in there for 3 hours!" His voice rose by a few degrees, but he backed off when the guards stationed nearby stepped forward slightly and became more attentive as he yelled.   
  
"Settle down, Lee. Are you sure you're not biased about this?"   
  
He looked up sharply at Francine, and while she regretted bringing this course of conversation up, she knew she had to continue. "Lee, Amanda's not just your partner. She's your wife. That can't help your objectivity about this."   
  
"Can it, Francine. Enough with the pop psychology. I should be in there." Lee started to pace again.   
  
"You're not the only one affected by this." Francine tried to lead him away from the B.A. unit, but was unsuccessful. "Amanda killed someone."   
  
"In the line of duty, Francine. It's part of the job." He continued his movements, but in a much smaller space, and limited to almost circling Francine.   
  
"Stetson, when did you become such a cynic? This is *Amanda* we're talking about. Housewife? Mom? Bakes great Christmas cookies? She used deadly force for the first time. Yes, it was in the line of duty. Yes, it's justified because she saved her partner's life. And it's personal because she saved her husband's life," at this Lee looked up sharply, almost guiltily. Francine continued, "but it isn't an easy thing to get over when it's the first time. No matter who is involved. And it takes a while to talk through," Francine laid her hand on Lee's forearm to still his movements around her. 'Especially when you're crying between every other word,' Francine though as she recalled her own first use of force. "Stop, you're getting me dizzy." She laid the back of her hand to her forehead, Southern-belle style, hoping to get a laugh from Lee, but failing.   
  
Lee looked up from the floor to meet his friend's eyes, which were full of concern for he and Amanda. "First time. I remember the first time." His eyes got a faraway quality to them, as he seemed to stare through Francine. She wasn't sure if he was recalling the first use of deadly force, or if he was remembering the first time he met Amanda. She couldn't tell from the sentimental quality that was apparent on his face - he wasn't smiling, but wasn't overwrought about whatever it was he was recalling.   
  
"Stetson, snap out of it, we're not talking women here." Francine smiled at the joke, hoping it would bring Lee back to the present. Presently, he shook his head, and chuckled at the joke.   
  
"You're right, Francine. How did I get to be such a cynic? Amanda needs as much time as possible to heal from this, and if Pfaff can get her through the nightmare-"   
  
Francine cut him off. "Nightmares? Amanda is having nightmares over this?" Concern clearly laced the blond woman's voice.   
  
"Yeah. Only instead of shooting the bad guy-"   
  
"She shoots you?"   
  
"No. She freezes. Or she doesn't get there in time. Or she doesn't bump into the boxes, and I take a bullet between the eyes." Lee's eyes filled with pain and concern for his wife. "I need to be in there with her, Francine."   
  
"No, you don't Lee. You need to be out here to support her when she comes out. You need to be available if Pfaff wants you to join the sessions. You're alive, Lee, because of Amanda, and you can support her through this. That's all that matters."   
  
~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK   
  
Inside the B.A. unit, Amanda sat for most of the time on one of the chairs with her jean-clad legs stretched out in front of her, crossed at the ankles. She was mentally exhausted and that carried over into her physical being. Eugene Pfaff was lying on his own couch, licking his 5th Popsicle this session and Amanda had been ready to scream until she turned the tables.   
  
They had covered her use of force in great detail the first hour and a half, along with the nightmares that went with it. How normal it is to have this sort of reaction, and how problematic it can be for an agent if it doesn't stop. How none of it was her fault, and that her partner was still alive, and that she was responsible for that action. And when Pfaff told her that she was psychologically sound to return to duty - that she had been for some time - that she was normal, Amanda laughed. "Dr. Pfaff, how normal is it for a single mother who's been a Little League coach and a Jr. Trailblazers den mother to be an employee of an Agency that no one is supposed to know exists?" Seeing her point, and the exclusive nature of her situation, they continued to talk.   
  
The next hour was spent going over Amanda's doubts and fears and the terror she was starting to feel with each note and phone call to the house. She admitted to being more anxious about things, but in a negative way. And these fears were starting to manifest themselves in physical symptoms: she was more fatigued, got headaches easily, and occasionally felt a bit nauseous. Dr. Pfaff became more concerned - physical manifestations of anxiety symptoms were enough to ground a field agent permanently if they couldn't get past it - and it didn't matter if the reason for the anxiety was personal or professional.   
  
"Why are you feeling insecure, Amanda? You snared the most eligible and wanted man in The Agency? And it's obvious to anyone with eyes that he would do anything for you." Dr. Pfaff looked over his half-glasses to the woman sitting on his couch, who looked back at him with slight doubt.   
  
"I know that, but what about all those other women? The steno pool, the other female agents? I've heard the rumors, and I've had people tell me to my face: Lee will get tired of me and leave." And so began a round of talking about all the acts of kindness that Lee had done for her, and about *his* past.   
  
Finally, after 2 and a-half hours, Amanda was feeling better about things. It wasn't that she had any doubts about Lee's feelings for her; she knew that he was dedicated to her. It just became too much with the harassment and the constant whispering and gossiping around her. When she felt they had covered that ground, Amanda asked about the Popsicle, and Pfaff's potential for high priced dental bills. He had admitted that they were starting to get a bit high and that Doc McJohn had been getting after him to cut back as well. "So eat granola bars - they're cheaper and better for you." And so began the next 45 minutes of going over why Eugene Pfaff was so addicted to ice cream and Popsicle bars. By the time they had exhausted that topic, Amanda believed the statement about how all therapists needed therapy for themselves. After a final re-iteration that she was fit for duty, and that he needed to start being more pro-active about not having a sugar fixation, Amanda stood up to go.   
  
As she walked out of the B.A. unit, she felt the weight begin to lift from her shoulders. She took a deep breath and started looking down the hall for Lee. She found him sitting on the floor around the corner from the unit, with his arms wrapped around his legs, and his chin resting on his knees.   
  
"Lee?"   
  
He lifted his head and smiled. "Well, it's about time." He slowly stood up, feeling the joints in his knees creak slightly as we straightened up. Realizing what he had said, he held up one hand. "Sorry. However long it takes, it takes. I'll still wait out here for you."   
  
"And you'll drive the guards crazy the whole time, I'm sure." Amanda looked towards the guards standing outside the B.A. unit, and one imperceptibly nodded at her statement. The other rolled his eyes upward before reverting to a solemn stare forward. 'Ah, those poor guys,' she thought to herself. "Come on," she linked her arm through Lee's, "let's go upstairs."   
  
"Upstairs?" Lee wiggled his eyebrows and was promptly awarded with Amanda's elbow knocking quickly against his ribs and then settling back into its link with her husband's arm.   
  
"Yes, I want to check on a couple of files in the Q."   
  
"We can go home and get them brought over."   
  
"Lee, we're already here, why wait any longer? Besides, I promise I won't be long." She was already steering their course towards the elevators that would lead towards the Q. Knowing that he couldn't resist her, he didn't complain. He knew that his wife would feel more useful in her element in the Q, and even if it were only for a couple of hours, then so be it.   
  
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Lee glanced up at the clock for just a moment, taking in the time absentmindedly, and then did a double take. He looked across the office toward the sofa and found Amanda arranging files - surrounded completely by piles. "Amanda," he began softly so as not to harshly break her concentration.   
  
"Hmmm?"   
  
"Amanda, we've been here for two hours. I thought you were only going to be a few minutes."   
  
"Whaa? Oh, the files. They're such a mess, Lee, and it will help us both if they're in order."   
  
"What are all those piles?"   
  
"Sorted by year, vaguely related cases… they're all ours. Any idea why they're all out?"   
  
"No. I've been trying to figure out what phantom Becca's been chas-"   
  
"Becca? She did this?" Amanda crinkled her eyebrows and nose at hearing this. "What could she have possibly been looking for? Lee, half of these files are inactive and should be archived. Why would she be looking through them in the first place? It's a stretch to relate most of them - the only obvious link is whether or not the subject was Russian, Romanian, American…" Amanda got up and started wandering around the office, not quite pacing, more like some random pattern in the office. She couldn't have paced in a straight line in the first place because of all the piles on the floor in the first place. Finally, after almost knocking a couple of piles over, she settled down at her desk and turned towards the typewriter, feeding a piece of paper into it.   
  
"Amanda, what are you doing?"   
  
"Just going to take a couple of notes down. It might help me try and make sense of this." She set her margins and started to type down notes. Lee was always amazed with the speed at which she typed; it almost rivaled the speed at which she spoke and thought.   
  
"Amanda, they're just piles of reports."   
  
"Lee." Amanda suddenly stopped typing.   
  
"I know. I'll be quiet and let you finis-" Lee stopped at noticing the look on his wife's face. "Amanda? Amanda, are you ok?"   
  
Amanda ripped the paper from the typewriter and stared at it for a long moment. She handed it over to Lee when she was done. "Lee, tell me what's wrong with this."   
  
He took the paper and started reading her notes. He didn't notice anything other than Amanda hadn't finished the sentence she had started. "Look closely, Lee," Amanda chided him. He continued to look. After a moment of careful scrutiny he looked up at Amanda. As she nodded at him he softly said, "The 's' is dropped." Amanda smiled nervously.   
  
"Yes, the 's' is dropped." Amanda got up from the desk, picked up a stack of files and headed for the vault. "The letters originated from this office, Lee."   
  
"But from who?"   
  
Amanda turned at the vault door and looked back at her husband with a surprised look. "You have to ask that, Scarecrow? Who else has access to this office besides you and me? Think about it." With that, she turned back into the vault, turned on the interior light and closed the door most of the way closed. Lee knew to take this as a sign to leave Amanda alone as she dealt with this new development. The stress that she had been under up to this point was nothing compared to the fact that a giant leap in the mystery as to who was harassing Amanda had been made.   
  
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20 minutes later, Lee scratched his ear briefly before running his hand up through his hair and back around to rub his neck. There had been no noise from the vault where Amanda was working, and he didn't want to go in there not knowing if she was working or simply sitting on the floor finding her way out of frustration. He stood up and walked around the office to stretch out the kinks in his back and legs, and continued to rub his neck, dropping his head down to work his hand further down his spine. He was just starting to loosen some of the earlier tension he had gathered there, when the door opened.   
  
"Hello, Lee." His head snapped up to look at Becca coming in the door. She closed the door behind her, and Lee heard the door lock click as her hand slid behind her back. She stood there for a moment before dipping her chin down slightly and looking at him through her eyelashes.   
  
"Becca." Lee took a step back towards his desk as Becca moved away from the door. She walked towards him with a purpose in those swaying, blue silk-clad hips. As she moved closer, Lee found himself backing up towards the desk until he felt it behind his right thigh. Knowing that he would not be able to move any further back, he slid his leg up onto the desk and casually sat there as Becca moved closer. Before she spoke, she had moved right up to him, leaning into his left side. He gently pushed her away from him.   
  
"So, it's just you and me, Lee. No distractions, no interruptions, no little housewife." Except for the housewife comment, Lee realized how enticing that statement would have been if it had been spoken by his wife. Coming from Becca it sounded like it came from the south side of sleazy and it was very, very dangerous.   
  
"Hey, Amanda's not a housewife. She's a fantastic agent, a wonderful person, a single mom who raised her two kids practically alone. Besides, I love that 'little housewife' as you put it."   
  
"Oh Lee, come on, you're not serious." At this Becca rolled her eyes upward before focusing back on Lee with a little smile. "You must be bored out of your mind." Becca moved her hands up the sides of Lee's suit jacket lapels. Lee realized that all of the natural movements that Amanda had made over the last couple of years felt so foreign, so wrong when someone else made them. He felt a quick flash of anger at Becca for what she had been doing to Amanda, but reined it in quickly. He wanted to see where Becca was going with this, especially if he continued to resist.   
  
"Maybe you would be, but I'm thrilled." Lee grabbed Becca's wrists and used that as leverage to move her away from him again while giving himself room to moved behind the desk. "Becca, I didn't realize it when you left, but it was time for me to make a change. I needed a positive change, a regular routine - something normal."   
  
"Normal for you is Monte Carlo for a weekend off, skiing in the Alps, the Bahamas for a two week vacation, Lee." She pouted slightly as she tried to make her point clear. Lee pushed himself out slightly from the desk, and put his feet up on the corner before Becca attempted to come around and sit there.   
  
"No, Becca. It's not. Not anymore. I had no idea what I was missing in my life until Amanda came along, and even then I fought it for a couple of years. She helped me figure out what was missing."   
  
Becca smiled seductively. "I can show you what you're missing, Lee." Becca reached for the top buttons of her dress and started to unbutton them.   
  
"No thanks, Becca." Just then, Amanda came out of the vault. She winked at Lee and he knew that she had heard everything that went on in the room. She moved across the room and brushed past Becca, who had dropped her hands from the buttons on her dress and started to move back from the desk.   
  
"Hello, there. I didn't know anyone was in here. You just can't hear anything in that vault." Amanda leaned over to kiss Lee on the cheek before turning back to her own desk to work. "Is there anything I can do for you Becca? And you should button up, it's a little chilly in here, you don't want to catch cold." She turned her attention to the other woman, who shook her head before disengaging the lock on the door and leaving the two agents in peace. 


	13. Another Night Goes By

Title: The Price We Pay  
  
Disclosure: Warner Brothers Television Distribution and Shoot The Moon Productions owns these characters, as well as to the writers, and actors who created and portrayed them. Generous references to the past and the events of the 4th season... I don't make any money off of this - my only reward is my personal satisfaction at having written a decent story (and the story is all mine). Oh, and any new characters that you meet along the way - those are creations from my own twisted imagination, so hands off, unless you ask for permission to play with them.  
  
See Chapter 1 for more information on timing and all that other good stuff...  
  
Chapter 13 is clearly not going to be the conclusion of the story, as I had an epiphany this evening and changed direction slightly... and I still have a bit of a ways to go...   
  
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After Becca had left the room, Amanda laid her head down on her desk in relief. In truth, she was trying not to giggle, but from all outward appearances, it seemed as if she were trying not to cry. To that end, Lee didn't know what to do being shaken himself from the close interaction with Becca and chose to turn his chair towards the window. Finally, Amanda lifted her head and gasped for breath. Lee turned, hoping that he could say something that would make it better, and caught the twinkle in his wife's eye.   
  
"Amanda? Are you all right?" Lee clearly was confused by this change of events.   
  
Laughing, and trying to catch her breath, Amanda nodded. "Oh, Lee," she continued to speak between fits of laughing, "you should have seen yourself when I came out of the vault. You looked like a deer caught in headlights!" With that, Amanda started laughing again.   
  
"I can't find the humor in this, Amanda. Becca is most likely to be the one who is writing you those letters." Lee stood up and crossed his arms, standing over Amanda's desk trying to look stern. He failed, and Amanda continued to smile, all the while trying to get herself back under control.   
  
"I know. I figured that out before I went into the vault. Lee, we can take this to Billy and be done with it." Amanda got under control and became a little more serious as she continued the conversation. "It's over, Lee. It's going to be over. No more phone calls, no more flowers, no more letters." She stood up and approached her husband and reached out to touch his hand. "I'm so relieved I don't think I even care why this whole thing happened." She moved closer to Lee, loosening his arms to place them around her waist, and placing her hands just under his suit lapels.   
  
Lee stiffened slightly, then relaxing under his wife's touch. He recalled Becca moving against him in much the same way just a few minutes earlier, but with Amanda he felt warmth, love, and a comfortable feeling of being home. He smiled down at Amanda who was looking up at him with such hope that their ordeal was almost over, and nodded his agreement. She snuggled into his embrace, tucking her head down into his shoulder, and he placed his chin atop her head. And all felt right with the Stetson's world.   
  
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That feeling didn't stay with them through the remainder of the day, however. The approaching evening found Lee and Amanda sitting at the kitchen table with leftover lasagna in front of them. Lee had barely taken a few bites; Amanda was simply pushing the food around the plate with her fork.   
  
They had left the Q shortly after Becca had left, and they'd barely spoken since then. Upon arriving home they had spent the rest of their afternoon in separate parts of the house doing little non-taxing tasks. It wasn't that they were purposefully avoiding each other, but that not talking about the subject that was foremost at their consciousness just seemed easier. Amanda and Lee both knew that they would have to talk about the situation and how to approach Billy about their findings. While it was fairly obvious to the both of them that it was Becca who was behind everything, Billy would want evidence of a less coincidental nature than her hitting on Lee mercilessly and the fact that the typewriter in the Q had a dropped 's'.   
  
As she now pushed her food around her plate, Amanda knew that she finally had a name as to who was trying to instill doubts in her about her husband's faithfulness, and despite her earlier statement, she *did* care about the reason why. This was the crux of the problem - they couldn't bring this to Billy without a solid reason why, and other than an initial thought that Becca was simply obsessed, Amanda couldn't figure out another reason why. And other than obtaining samples of how the letter 's' sat in every other typewriter in The Agency compound, there was no concrete way to prove that the letters came from the Q.   
  
Lee had continued chewing the same bite of food for the previous five minutes. He was also trying to figure out why Becca had pursued this course of action. In his colorful past he had intrigued many women with his looks and panache, and many had been broken hearted when they had called him, sometimes for weeks afterward, with no positive results to show for it. But they had never progressed to the point of obsession, and neither had he, he thought, with two small exceptions on his part. He had been obsessed with finding out what had happened with his parents and how Thomas Blackthorne had been involved. But that was minor when he compared it to how he felt about Amanda. His eyes watched her every movement now, as she stared at her plate and moved the food around. His heart ached that he couldn't have done anything to prevent the whole situation from happening. He knew that he was in more pain than Amanda - to the point where the emotional pain was starting to manifest itself physically and mentally - he had a headache that wouldn't quit, his body was feeling exhausted, and his thoughts weren't quite of a rational nature. 'If anything ever happened to her...' he straightened up slightly, stopping the thought abruptly. He knew that he would lay his life down to spare hers and the thought of anything happening to her was impossible to comprehend and unbearable to ponder. And nothing would happen to Amanda - she knew how to take care of herself, and Becca wasn't much of a threat to the two of them.   
  
The results of one of Amanda's earlier tasks in the day sat on the kitchen counter. She had decided to burn off some anger and energy and spent the afternoon melting and tempering chocolate to make a cake from scratch. She'd spent the time while the cake was baking working on the frosting, and grating more chocolate for decoration. Lee couldn't wait to have a slice, but he expected that he wouldn't fully appreciate the taste. He could barely discern the flavor of what he was eating at the moment.   
  
Later that night, Amanda quietly brought some lemonade out to the two agents still positioned outside the house. Jack Stevens thanked her with an enthusiastic smile, and was puzzled when she walked away with just a quick lift at the corner of her mouth, and a very quiet and solemn wish for a goodnight. Stevens cocked his head toward his right shoulder as he watched her walk away. His partner, Russell Lynne, grabbed the thermos and chuckled. "See, Stevens, paradise can't last forever with Stetson."   
  
Jack held out a cup he had in the car for some of the lemonade, keeping his eyes on the retreating agent. As he watched, he noticed a slight movement from the front windows of the house, and found himself making eye contact with Lee Stetson. Jack gave a quick nod of his head to Lee, who mirrored the movement at almost the same time. "Doesn't look like that to me, Russell." As Amanda got closer to the front door, Lee moved from the front window. He met his wife at the door, with an arm quickly moving into position around her back at her waist before the door closed, obscuring any further view of the two agents from Jack's sight. He shook his head once again at the younger agent and his apparent naiveté at the dynamics of a permanent commitment. As he turned to look at the younger agent who was surprised at Stetson's interaction with his wife, he chuckled lightly. "Russell, you have so much to learn."  
  
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Morning came quietly to the house on Maplewood drive. It was clear to Lee that Amanda was still grappling with the events of the previous day. Amanda went about getting ready for the morning very quietly, and without her usual smile or bounce in her step. Lee figured that the events of the previous day had been too much to add to her already fragile state. Despite the laughter that they shared yesterday afternoon over Amanda surprising Becca by coming out of the vault, Lee knew that his wife wasn't happy over the turn of events. Neither was Lee - after worrying about Amanda while she was in Pfaff, and then finding the dropped 's' on their own typewriter in the Q, combined with a lack of sleep made for a very grumpy agent.   
  
Lee and Amanda had stayed up the previous night after she brought their two friendly 'watchdogs' the thermos of lemonade, trying to figure out the best way to approach Billy with the information they had found yesterday. They both knew that what they had found could easily be dismissed, but they also knew that Billy wasn't going to discount it easily either. There had been many an agent who had discounted Amanda's gut feelings about things and had been sorry for it afterward when it proved that she was right. Lee knew that Billy wouldn't write this off immediately, simply because of that fact.   
  
But Lee also knew that Billy wouldn't give a lot of attention to a theory that was coming from an emotionally drained agent, no matter how much he respected and trusted them. When personal matters crossed the line into the workplace, there was very little that an agent could do to make their case be heard and believed. And Lee knew that Billy wouldn't be any different on this situation. That's why Lee was going to talk to Billy alone. He and Amanda had quarreled over this issue well into the night - Amanda defending her right to present this to Billy with every argument she could come up with. And it had taken hours for Lee to make her see that her arguments about his being her life and her husband wouldn't fly with their Section Chief - no matter how beloved they were to him.   
  
Lee had convinced Amanda to stay home for the morning - she was tired after the long night, and she wouldn't be in the right mind to focus on work anyway. She agreed reluctantly, knowing that she would be safe at home with the watchdogs outside. After a quiet breakfast of toast and coffee, of which Amanda barely had a couple of bites, Lee put down the newspaper and moved across the kitchen to where Amanda was standing, looking out the kitchen window. He wrapped his arms around her from behind, and felt her relax into his embrace. After a moment she turned to snuggle into him for a long and reassuring hug. Lee placed his chin on the top of her head, as she burrowed into his shoulder, and tightened his grip on Amanda. 'And if things weren't so nuts with Becca, I would say that all was right with the world,' he thought and then changed his mind the very next second. 'And that's what I thought yesterday in the Q before Amanda let this drag her down and tire her out. We should have gone to Billy yesterday with this.'  
  
As if she were reading his mind, Amanda spoke up. "Lee, go talk with Billy. We should have yesterday, and I just want this over with." She straightened up in his arms and looked into his eyes. As she opened her mouth again to speak, she yawned instead. When she finally stopped, she was blushing slightly. "I'm sorry."   
  
Lee held up one hand. "You're tired. I'm tired. Stay home, take a nap, and I'll be back in an hour or two after I've talked with Billy. OK?"  
  
Amanda nodded. "I'll just start cleaning up some of the-" Lee placed a finger over her lips.   
  
"No, you're not. Rest today. Read a book. Pamper yourself in a bubble bath. Don't think about work, or housework, or anything else. I'll bring home some Chinese food for lunch and let you know what Billy said. OK?" Lee placed a stern emphasis on the OK this time to try and convey his meaning to Amanda.   
  
"OK. Gotcha. I'll be lazy today." She leaned forward to kiss Lee lightly. He tightened his arms around her again, and accepted the kiss, and then placed one on her forehead. He stood there for a couple more minutes with his lips against her forehead, and his eyes closed, breathing in the scent of her shampoo. He was going to go make everything right with the world again just for Amanda. He stepped back and smiled at her before grabbing his keys off the counter and heading out the front door. As he got into the Corvette, he nodded once again to Jack Stevens and his partner, and drove away.   
  
Back inside the house, Amanda remained standing where Lee had left her, looking around the house with a critical eye. Knowing that housework waits for no one, she thought about a few easy tasks she could set about doing, including reviewing a few files from the Q, before settling down with a book, as Lee had suggested.   
  
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Jack watched as Lee Stetson got into his car and drove away, knowing that Amanda was still in the house. Russell was slumped down in his seat, trying to catch a few winks before their shift was over. 'Stetson, if I were you, I wouldn't leave a woman like that alone in the house,' Jack thought to himself. He knew that Amanda was completely qualified to protect herself in almost any situation, but that still didn't quell the butterflies in Jack's stomach. Needless to say, Jack would do anything to protect Amanda King Stetson - it was his job, and she was a lady of class and grace who deserved it.   
  
He was just thinking about how his partner would probably never be able to recognize and appreciate that kind of woman, when an Agency vehicle pulled up behind them. Jack reached over and punched Russell lightly on the shoulder to get him to wake up. After a groan and a moment, Russell sat up and rubbed his hands over the stubble on his face. "What's the matter, Jack?"   
  
"Looks like our relief is here. We can go and catch a few winks on real beds for a couple of hours." Jack watched through the rearview mirror as he tried to figure out who was in the car behind them, as it wasn't the car that Lindsey and Cabral usually used, but the sun shining on the windshield obscured his vision and he averted his eyes so as to not be blinded by the shine. Russell stretched as much as he could in the confines of the front passenger seat and shifted in his seat to try and get a view of who was in the car behind them, but he couldn't determine who it was either. Just then the driver side door opened.   
  
Russell watched as Becca Dobson got out of the car, and came around to the passenger side window of their surveillance vehicle. 'Well, well, well, isn't this a sight to see,' Russell thought to himself. He unrolled the window and looked up into Becca's smiling face. "Hi there, gorgeous. Ask me anything and I'll get it for you."   
  
"Morning, boys. Uneventful night here in suburbia, I take it?" Becca took a step back from the car, and leaned her arms on the edge of the window, taking full advantage of the fact that Russell would be staring straight down the v-neck cut of her light yellow sweater. She almost patted herself on the back for wearing the pink lace demi-cup, as she noticed Russell start to redden and shift in his seat as he looked down the front. Becca found herself slightly disappointed that she didn't elicit the same reaction from Jack. He simply rolled his eyes upward, and developed a wry smile on his face. "Dobson," he greeted her gruffly, "Are you are relief car?"  
  
"Yup, just little ole me, unless one of you gentlemen wants to spend the next 8-10 hours with me in the car? Have to warn you, though, it's supposed to get up into the 90s today." Becca smiled over at Jack, and when the agent didn't change the look on his face, she aimed her eyes and smile over at Russell, who looked almost awestruck. 'This guy has *got* to get a life,' she thought to herself. It was a dangerous question she asked, but she knew that neither agent would want to pull watchdog duty on a hot summer day, no matter how enticing the company would be. Both agents shook her heads negatively in response to her question, and she sighed inwardly in relief. But her relief was short-lived.   
  
Jack spoke up. "Where are Cabral and Lindsey? They're supposed to be here to relieve us." Jack watched the female agent carefully, but if she was up to something, it certainly wasn't apparent to him.   
  
"They got tied up on another matter, so I stepped in."   
  
"That was good of you, Dobson." Jack nodded his head.   
  
Russell broke from his reverie to voice his agreement. "Yeah, Becca, you're an angel." He winked broadly at the woman, who simply smiled back at him.   
  
"Come on guys, get out of here. I'm sure you have comfortable beds waiting for you at home." Knowing that they wouldn't be heading back to The Agency and reinforcing that fact made Becca feel that much more confident. "I've got this situation covered."  
  
Jack looked over at Russell and was fairly convinced that the other agent wouldn't be able to speak for the look of lust and puppy love that battled for the real estate of his face. "Last night was uneventful, Boo. The Stetson's came home, didn't leave the house again for the night except when Amanda brought us some lemonade." Jack reached behind the seat and brought up the thermos. He passed it in front of his partner to hand it to Becca. "Scarecrow left just before you got here for work, and Mrs. King is still in the house, alone. When you give the thermos to her, could you give her our thanks? That was some of the best tasting lemonade I've had in a long while." Jack turned the ignition over in the car, and put it into gear. He couldn't wait to get home, and he knew, despite his reservations over Becca's overtly physical nature, that she was a good agent. "Have a good one, Boo. And don't forget to thank Mrs. King for me." Jack pulled away from the curb and headed down the street.   
  
Becca got back into her Agency issue vehicle as Jack was driving away. "Oh, you can be sure that I'll thank Amanda. Personally." 


	14. ...by the morning light...

Title: The Price We Pay  
  
Disclosure: Warner Brothers Television Distribution and Shoot The Moon Productions owns these characters, as well as to the writers, and actors who created and portrayed them. Generous references to the past and the events of the 4th season... I don't make any money off of this - my only reward is my personal satisfaction at having written a decent story (and the story is all mine). Oh, and any new characters that you meet along the way - those are creations from my own twisted imagination, so hands off, unless you ask for permission to play with them.  
  
See Chapter 1 for more information on timing and all that other good stuff...  
  
~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~  
  
45 minutes after leaving the Arlington neighborhood that had become his home, Lee finally walked into the Georgetown foyer. "Good Morning, Mrs. Marston. Denouement." Lee smiled at the older woman, hoping that she was in a good mood.   
  
"Good Morning, Scarecrow. Francine is looking for you." She handed him his badge, wondering if she was ever going to get a word that Lee Stetson wasn't going to be able to say one day, and have him be stuck at the entrance until an escort arrived. 'Stranger things have happened,' she thought to herself, 'after all, look how he recruited his own wife.' The older woman mused on this for just a second as she watched the handsome, but slightly distracted, agent clip the badge to his jacket lapel, and made a mental note to ask Amanda if she had any suggestions for stumpers.   
  
"That's nice. Francine can just keep looking for me. Is Billy around?" Before she could answer, Francine came barreling down the stairs from the Q Bureau with a printout at least a couple of inches thick; a couple of pages were escaping her grasp as she headed down the stairs and straight for him.  
  
"Thank goodness you're here. There are a couple of international bulletins you need to review." To Lee's recollection, there weren't many times that he had ever seen Francine stressed out, and this was one of them. Despite that, Lee didn't have time to be sympathetic to her plight. "The morning news is the biggest I've seen-"  
  
Lee cut her off. "Francine, I don't have time. I need to talk with Billy. It's about Amanda and this whole harassment thing." He turned towards the closet in the foyer, but Francine was too quick for him and moved to block his way.   
  
"Sorry, Scarecrow. You're not going to be able to get any time with him this morning. Smyth's on the rampage, and we've got a couple of scrambles that are muy caliente." Francine arched an eyebrow at him.  
  
"Francine, cut the bad impression of Smyth. I've got to talk to Billy. I'll wait in his office if I have to. And besides, how come I didn't hear about this earlier?" He moved to slide past the blonde, but again, she blocked his way. Francine smirked at the look of exasperated frustration that was beginning to cross her long-time friend's features.   
  
"Billy took off for a meeting on Pennsylvania Avenue early this morning, Lee. I didn't know anything until I got here about 20 minutes ago myself. And as for talking with Billy, you're just going to have to wait like the rest of us. Come on. Let's go back up to the Q and I can get you up to date with what's going on." With that Francine turned and headed back up towards the Q. As she climbed the stairs, she continued to speak, "I know this harassment thing with Amanda is important, but even Billy would agree that it would take a back seat to what's going on today."  
  
Lee looked over at Mrs. Marston, who just shrugged at him. He sighed, and made his way up the stairs. "Time out, Francine. Give me a minute to call Amanda, at least. We agreed that I'd be gone long enough to tell Billy. If I'm going to be here awhile, I want to let her know." He had almost reached the top of the stairs when he noticed Francine slowed her pace, and turned to look over her shoulder down at him from her spot on the landing.   
  
"Look at you. Gone the Lee Stetson we all knew and tolerated. And wrapped around Amanda King's finger, no less." She continued towards the Q Bureau door, as Lee made his way onto the landing and towards the office as well.   
  
"You're in fine form this morning, Francine. What bug landed in your oatmeal?"   
  
"Just wondering how someone with such panache could become so domestic so very quickly." Francine sat down on the office couch, knowing that she'd never hear the end of it, if she sat down at Amanda's desk. The flowers on the desk were wilting anyway, as the occupants of the office hadn't been around much to keep them from neglect.  
  
Lee picked up the phone. "Just lucky, I guess, Francine." He smiled and winked at her as he started to dial the phone. The phone rang 5 times and then the machine picked up. "Amanda, are you there? If you're listening in, I'm going to be delayed a little. Francine grabbed me as I came in, Billy's walking Pennsylvania, and there's an international situation brewing. Don't come in, and I'll be home soon." He hung up the phone and turned to find Francine studying him. "What?"  
  
"No 'I love you' at the end of the message, Scarecrow," Francine teased. Seeing a slight reddening around his collar, and not knowing if it was pure irritation or embarrassment, she changed her tactic. "Amanda's not home?"  
  
"She didn't pick up. I asked her to take it easy today, so she could be taking a nap, or a long bath. She did have some gardening she wanted to do, so maybe she's in the backyard," Lee continued the sentence in his mind, 'where I should be, at home with her.'   
  
"I'm sure she's just fine, Lee. Now come on, the Romanians are threatening diplomatic sanctions against us, and..." Francine started giving him the rundown on how the international political situation had changed overnight. After one fleeting thought about where his wife could be, Lee turned his mind to the matter at hand, and didn't think about Amanda for the next hour.   
  
~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~  
  
Just a few minutes after watching Jack and Russell drive off, Becca relaxed in the driver's seat of the rental car she was driving.   
  
'Every agent makes a critical mistake, at least once in their careers. Jack, you just made yours. Just as Cabral did when he opened his apartment door this morning. Finding Lindsey there with him was just a bonus.' She'd caught the partners together in a compromising position, and it had only added to her pleasure when she discovered that Lindsey was already tied up. 'Sarah Lindsey and Patrick Cabral - I just never would have figured.'   
  
She smiled at herself, knowing that she had made her career critical mistake listening to Smyth all those years ago, and taking the long-term foreign assignment so as to not derail the path that Scarecrow had taken. She still, at times, couldn't believe the respect that Smyth had for the man - the only agent to ever command his respect - though he would never show it. 'Not even on his deathbed, I bet," Becca thought.   
  
She knew that she'd been shipped off because she was becoming a distraction to Stetson and the other agents in the bullpen. She'd ruined the career of one before she'd been ordered to leave. And Austin Smyth was fit to be tied if he was going to watch one of the more promising agents in The Agency go down to tubes because of her. She was still surprised that he had pulled her back stateside just for the purpose of distracting Stetson and hoping that a sabotaged marriage would be just what the agent needed to sharpen his mind on the international arena again. Becca had been warned that any silently sanctioned actions could end her career, but the chance of rekindling any sort of relationship with Lee Stetson had been too much to resist.   
  
Becca's mind wandered briefly to her mother. The reason she had been brought into The Agency initially was because of her mother and her relationship with Austin Smyth. A relationship that she still didn't know the true origins of, and was probably better off not knowing. She knew that they had met on the polo field, and ran in some of the same society circles, but beyond that, the relationship was beyond anyone's guess. Despite her attempts in Smyth's office to unsuccessfully try and gain the upper hand by relying on her physical assets, she wondered if Smyth and her mother had had a more intimate relationship. 'Not likely,' Becca thought to herself, as a wry smile twisted her lips, 'that man probably hasn't had sex since the Truman years.'  
  
The sound of a car horn down the street broke through her consciousness, and she became aware that over a half-hour had passed. She had to be at The Agency shortly, and her daydreaming had left her little time to do what she needed to. She got out of the car and stretched.   
  
~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~  
  
After straightening up the living room, and making some bread dough that she had just set to rise, Amanda headed upstairs to straighten up the bedrooms. She walked into her and Lee's bedroom, leaned against the doorjamb and sighed. Since he'd moved in, the bed just never seemed to get made in the mornings. It wasn't a matter of not trying to straighten it out, it just seemed that every time she reached for the covers to straighten them after getting up she just ended tangled up in them again with her husband. 'Not that I'm complaining," Amanda thought to herself as she smiled and moved into the room to straighten the sheets.   
  
As she moved up to the bed, her foot struck something hard and heavy almost concealed under the bed. Moving the blankets aside, she found the dictionary that Lee had taken with him after losing that last game with Jaime. As she picked it up, she found a dog-eared corner in the "Q" section and chuckled. "Interesting letter to be studying, Lee." She set the book on Lee's bedside table, and set about straightening the covers. Just as she was about to go around and straighten the other side of the bed, the doorbell rang. Once, then twice more.   
  
'Am I ever going to break this streak of bad timing?' Amanda asked herself as she grabbed the dictionary and headed down the stairs. The doorbell rang a third time as she reached the bottom of the stairs. "Just a minute!" she called towards the door, as she went in the opposite direction to place the dictionary on the edge of the kitchen counter.   
  
Not expecting anyone, she glanced at the living room quickly as she made her way to the front door. She opened the door, with her usual smile, which weakened slightly as she saw who was there.   
  
"Good Morning, Amanda. Jack asked me to drop this off for him." Becca smiled cheerfully as she held up the thermos into Amanda's line of sight.   
  
"Oh, Becca. I wasn't expecting you. Actually, I wasn't expecting anyone to tell you the truth, and Lee isn't here if you're looking for him." Chastising herself silently for running off at the mouth, Amanda took a slow and silent breath. "Becca, I thought Jack was supposed to be off earlier this morning?" She tried to peer around Becca, but the other agent moved with her to block her line of sight.   
  
"He was. When I picked up the next shift, he handed off the thermos to me."  
  
"You're on this shift?" Amanda's eyes widened slightly at this piece of information and she stiffened slightly.   
  
Becca noticed the change in Amanda's stance and facial expression. Smiling at having made the other woman nervous, she answered in a purr. "Yes, I pulled watchdog duty today. I owed a favor to Cabral and Lindsey and Billy thought I'd be perfect."  
  
Amanda's eyes narrowed and her face took on a serious expression. "Mr. Melrose thought you'd be perfect? OK. Listen, Becca, I'm not planning on leaving the house today, and I have a few things I need to get done, so if you'd excuse me-" She started to close the door, when the other agent pushed her hand and her foot forward to prevent any further movement. "Becca?"  
  
"Sorry, Amanda. I need to use your restroom. I'm rather desperate, else I wouldn't ask. Do you think it would be all right?"   
  
Amanda watched as she saw Becca's face take on a pained expression. Not being able to turn away a person in need, even one that she didn't like very much, she opened the door slightly to allow Becca into the house. "Sure. Come in." Amanda moved back to be able to close the door without hitting Becca with the door, and pointed the way down the hall.   
  
"Thanks Amanda. I really appreciate it." Becca turned down the hall towards the back of the house where the bathroom was located.   
  
Amanda followed her, keeping her distance, thinking about how it was easier to keep one's enemies in sight so as to know all about their activities. 'And as soon as you're out of the house, I'm going to be sneaking out myself to make a phone call, Becca.' Amanda knew that The Agency was monitoring their phone line due to the harassing phone calls and the woman in her bathroom would definitely overhear Amanda making a call to Billy to confirm Becca's assignment. And that was something that she didn't want happening. She turned back towards the kitchen counter where the bread dough was threatening to rise its way out of the pan she'd set it in, when she heard a whisper of a sound behind her. 'I'm just a little on edge,' Amanda thought to herself, turning to find the source of the sound when her head exploded with sudden pain and her world went black.   
  
Becca watched the woman crumple to the floor, and smiled as she tucked her gun back into place in the belt holster under her sweater. After making sure it was strapped back into place, she nudged Amanda's body with her foot as the phone began to ring, and receiving no response from the stilled agent, she started to laugh triumphantly.  
  
~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~  
  
A half-hour later, Becca was on her way to work, whistling a little tune. Her morning errand out of the way, she was now free to continue pursuing Lee, and working her way up the ladder into the Q Bureau and up through the ranks of the Field Section.   
  
She reached The Agency in almost record time, and entered the parking structure in time to see Billy Melrose get out of his car. She honked her horn to get Billy's attention and quickly pulled into a parking space. As she got out of the car, she noticed that Billy seemed a bit distracted and had already headed into The Agency.   
  
She followed the same path that her boss had taken and made her way into the bullpen. Though conservatively dressed as compared to what she wore normally, she still drew everyone's attention as she crossed through the bullpen. Everyone's attention, that was, except for that of three people who were deep in conversation in Billy's office. She approached the office with a sunny smile, and poked her head in the door. "Good morning!"   
  
Billy waved her in. "Shut the door, Becca. We need to talk."   
  
"What's up, Billy?" Becca widened her eyes slightly, taking on an innocent look just for a moment, when Francine looked at her suspiciously. Becca immediately sobered up and took on an inquisitive look. She glanced around and noticed Lee had started pacing the room, much like a caged tiger. 'Some things never change,' she thought to herself.   
  
"Boo, I don't beat around the bush, and I expect a straight answer from you. Are you the agent who is sending these harassing letters to Amanda?" He looked sternly at her, while Francine moved closer to Lee, presumably to keep him in place in case Becca admitted that she was.   
  
"I don't know what you're talking about, Billy, and I'm insulted you would think that. Of course not. Why would I do something like that?" She looked properly indignant at the accusation. A movement out of the corner of her eye had her turning towards Lee and Francine. The blond agent had moved to stand in front of Lee, blocking him from getting in Becca's face.   
  
"Why? I'll give you a few reasons why? Because you've made it no secret that you don't like my wife! Because you've tried to seduce me every chance you get! Because you-"  
  
"Quiet, Scarecrow." Billy issued the order in a calm and quiet tone of voice. It stilled the agent immediately. "Just settle down."  
  
"Settle down? I can't get hold of Amanda, she hasn't left any messages for me here, and our prime suspect is right here in this office! And you want me to-"  
  
"ENOUGH!" Billy bellowed the order and startled more than a few people in the bullpen who had heard the Field Section leader despite the thick glass on his window and the door being closed. "I will not have this happen in my office. And I expect better from you, Lee. This thing with Amanda is getting to you, and you're not objective enough to handle it properly. You're on leave. Starting now."  
  
"But Bi-" Lee was cut off by Becca opening her mouth.   
  
"Wait. I have something to say." Becca took a deep breath before continuing. "I didn't have anything to do with the letters, but I have been stepping in where I shouldn't."   
  
"What are you talking about, Rebecca?" Francine stepped away from Lee and moved towards her old friend.   
  
"There's a specific reason I was brought back in from the international field, and in my defense, I was only acting under orders." Becca looked at her feet.   
  
"What did you do, Boo?" Lee growled at her. "And whose orders? What *are* you talking about."  
  
"Smyth ordered me in from the field. He knew about our relationship from years ago, Lee, and he wanted me to come back in to distract -"  
  
"Distract me? Why? Does he really think that I would fall for you and get distracted enough for him to fire me?" Lee advanced a step on the agent, who stepped back and bumped into the corner of Billy's desk with the top of her thigh. Wincing slightly, she shifted so as to be able to move to the side of the desk, in case Lee tried to lunge at her.   
  
"He suggested that it might be a good idea to see if you and Amanda would break up. He needs an agent with a good head for the international political situation, and since you married Amanda, you haven't been game for that." Becca looked up at Lee. "I jumped at the chance-"  
  
"I bet you did," Francine countered. "Just another conquest for Becca-Boo, isn't it?"  
  
"No." Becca shook her head. "No, not that at all. *I* wanted the international coordinator position, but Smyth already had Lee in mind." She looked to Billy, but realized that she wasn't going to get any help from him, and continued. "I was only acting under orders." Lee was grumbling something under his breath from his spot on the couch where he had only just sat down a couple minutes earlier.   
  
"Fine. Becca, you stay here. We're going to go see the good doctor." Billy stood up from his chair and pushed back from the desk. "Francine." The blond agent straightened up and headed for the door. Lee stood up as well. "No, Lee. You stay here. I don't care if you stay in the office, or head back up to the Q, but I'm not letting you within shouting distance of Smyth. There's been enough trouble now, and I'm going to be the one doing the yelling at Smyth. And the last thing that Amanda needs is to find that you're in an Agency holding cell for assaulting Smyth." With that, Billy strode out of the office with Francine trailing behind him.   
  
Becca looked over at Lee, helplessly, and spread her hands out in an uncomfortable 'I don't know' type of gesture. "Well, alone again."  
  
Lee rose from the couch and headed for the door. As he strode out, he commented one last time, coldly, to Becca: "Yes ma'am, you are."  
  
~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~  
  
Meanwhile, somewhere in Washington D.C., in a perfectly pitch-black area, Amanda Stetson came back to the conscious world. She winced, and tried to move, realizing that she was tightly bound at her wrists and her feet, with no give in the rope.   
  
From the pain emanating from the back of her head, she knew that she had a terrible knot there, but couldn't massage it to ascertain the true amount of damage or to discover if it was bleeding. And she realized that she was still woozy - if she had a concussion, the worst thing would be for her to fall unconscious again, but sleep could easily overtake her in a dark room without any outside stimulus to keep her awake and alert.   
  
So she did the two things that she knew she *could* do in the dark with her hands tied behind her back: try and figure a way out, and try to recall how she got there in the first place. 


	15. ... a little more suspense...

Title: The Price We Pay   
Disclosure: Warner Brothers Television Distribution and Shoot The Moon Productions owns these characters, as well as to the writers, and actors who created and portrayed them. Generous references to the past and the events of the 4th season... I don't make any money off of this - my only reward is my personal satisfaction at having written a decent story (and the story is all mine). Oh, and any new characters that you meet along the way - those are creations from my own twisted imagination, so hands off, unless you ask for permission to play with them.   
See Chapter 1 for more information on timing and all that other good stuff...   
~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~  
  
Walking side by side, stride for stride, Francine and Billy headed down the long hallway where Austin Smyth's office was located. Francine could feel the anger pouring off Billy, and in all her years working with the man, she had never let his feelings affect the way she did her job. Today was the exception to that rule. Not only did she want to go a few rounds with Dr. Smyth in The Agency karate training rooms, but she also wanted to take Becca there too. 'What the hell was she thinking, taking an order like this from Dr. Smyth,' she thought to herself. "I know, she was thinking that she'd get Lee back, that's what."   
  
"And she thought wrong," Billy responded between clenched teeth. "And so did Smyth." They stopped outside the doors to the reception area, and Billy turned to his trusted assistant who looked more than a little surprised. "Yes, Francine, you did say that out loud. You're not losing your mind. And I have a few choice words for Boo when I'm done with Smyth. Ready?"  
  
Francine nodded. "Billy? What am I doing here? I'm not questioning your judgment, and I'll back you up 100%, but I don't understand why you want me here with Smyth."  
  
Billy looked back at her and immediately moved into agent mode. "You're my backup. You're here to keep Smyth from getting out of the office. You're here as the 'agent of record' for the letters and harassment that Amanda Stetson has been receiving." Billy took a deep breath as he put his hand on the door handle and spoke once last time before opening the door. "You're here to keep me from jumping over the desk and throttling Smyth with my bare hands." With that, he turned the handle of the door.   
  
Billy held up a hand to the receptionist when she looked up sharply at the intrusion of the Section Chief and his assistant. She rose to move in front of the oak door, but Billy was already there with his hand on the handle of the door. "I'm going in to see Smyth, and you're not going to stop us." She looked from Billy to Francine, and after receiving a threatening and cold look from the blonde woman; she sat weakly back down in her chair.   
  
As they entered the room and shut the door behind them, the receptionist sighed and opened her bottom desk drawer to pull out her purse. She picked up the phone and called down to personnel requesting her own replacement. After the rather loud admonishment from Dr. Smyth the previous afternoon for letting Becca through, she knew that she wouldn't keep her position in Smyth's office after today's intrusion. Especially not after how Billy Melrose looked when he stampeded through the reception area. 'I'll be lucky if I get to keep my job here at The Agency,' she thought to herself, 'but if I do, I'll request to work in Field Section for Mr. Melrose.' Knowing that she'd stand a chance there after the ground that Amanda King had broken, she smiled to herself as she heard the voices rise in Smyth's office.   
  
~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~  
  
Meanwhile, up in the Q Bureau, Lee Stetson slammed the door behind him. And then, not satisfied with the fact that the door hadn't rattled in the frame, he opened it only to slam it again. This time, the frosted window in the door rattled a bit, and that seemed to placate the agent temporarily. He crossed the office to stand and stare out the window. Suddenly he picked up the first thing that his hand laid on, which happened to be a 700-page volume on the Civil War, and flung it across the room. It hit the vault door with a clang, and landed facedown, open on the floor. He threw a couple more small ones, but he didn't feel the same satisfaction as he had with the first.   
  
"AARGGH!" Lee spun around and grabbed another heavy volume and spun around to throw it. As it left his hand, he noticed that it was headed straight for someone who had just walked into the Q, and he didn't have time to utter a warning. He saw a flash of yellow as the person ducked back into the hallway hoping to avoid getting bruised by the book. As it landed, Becca peeked around the corner.   
  
"Is it safe?" She smiled tentatively at Lee.   
  
"What do *you* want?" Lee turned back towards the window. He heard Becca behind him, picking up the books that had landed around the office, and placing them down on his desk with a resounding 'thud'. Lee figured she must not be too happy either. 'Tough. She helped cause the problem.'  
  
"Just to talk." He felt her come up behind him, and she placed her hands softly at the base of his neck, and moved them out towards his shoulders and back. He shrugged her hands off, and then turned around to look directly into her dark blue eyes, not three inches from his.   
  
"*Talking*, Becca, does not involve you touching me, nor does it involve you needing to me right on top of me while you talk to me." Lee took a step forward, which required Becca to move back away from the desk or risk being pushed onto it as Lee moved back towards the middle of the office. As she moved, she let out an exasperated sigh. "Problem, Dobson?" Lee fired a look towards her filled with ice and steel, and Becca figured that it was going to be a longer road than she had anticipated.   
  
"Lee. Relax. Billy and Francine are taking care of Austin, there's no need to worry about that. You and I need to talk." She moved forward to grab his hand on its way up to run through his hair and pulled him towards the couch. She sat down and tucked her legs under her, and by default, he ended up sitting next to her. He pulled his hand from hers, and crossed his arms waiting for her to speak. "Oh, you're not going to make this easy for me, are you Lee?" The twitching muscle in his jaw gave her his answer, and he continued to stare straight ahead at his wife's desk across the room.   
  
Becca noticed the distraction and placed a manicured fingertip on Lee's chin and failed at getting his head to turn towards her. She dropped her hand down back into her lap and snorted. "I can't believe that you actually are in love with a suburban mom. Whatever happened to the dashing and debonair Lee Stetson I used to know?" Becca started to pout and slouched back against the arm of the couch.   
  
Lee took this opportunity to get up and get away from Becca. He crossed the small room in a couple of steps and turned to lean against Amanda's desk, folding his arms across his chest as he kicked one foot behind the other, and sighed heavily. "What is the point of all this, Becca? You know, I'm tired of justifying my marriage to everyone. Why can't you just take it at face value: I'm in love with Amanda, and she is my wife. End of story." As he made his last statement, he pointedly looked at Becca with an annoyed expression.  
  
Becca got up and swung her hips as she headed straight for Lee, and stepped as close as she could to him. "End of story, huh?" She ran her tongue across her lips before settling the tip against her top lip, and then shifting to lightly bite her bottom lip. She slowly let it slide out of the grasp of her teeth, and noticed that Lee watched every move. She moved her mouth closer to his, her chest pressing into his still-crossed arms. "Sure, Stetson. I'll be seeing you around." With that she stepped away slightly, and turned to leave. She took one last look over her shoulder, and raised an eyebrow at Lee. He continued to look at her with that same annoyed expression on his face. She shrugged, and walked towards the door. "Well, you can't blame a girl for trying."  
  
After she left, Lee's posture sagged slightly. 'Damn,' he thought to himself, 'when is that lady going to learn to take 'no' for an answer?' He smiled wryly. 'Probably never.' Lee relaxed and sat down at his own desk. After shuffling a couple of piles of paper, he picked up the phone and dialed his Arlington home once again. The phone rang a few times before the machine picked up, and he hung up after leaving a quick message for Amanda to call him. 'What could she be possibly doing that's keeping her away from the phone? Probably hasn't even noticed any messages.' With that, he swiveled his chair away from the desk and towards the windows and looked out on the summer day, with thoughts of his wife and his family.   
  
~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~  
  
Amanda sat still in the darkness in an attempt to figure out where she might be, but there were no clues to assist her. The floor was cool and smooth beneath her tied hands - it could be well laid concrete, or very fine linoleum. The temperature was comfortable - it could be a room inside a building, or a well-maintained warehouse or office building. It was perfectly quiet as well - the rooms around her could be soundproofed, or she could be completely alone in the place. And there wasn't a rough edge that she could find so far that could help her get out of her bonds.   
  
TBC... 


End file.
